Over the past few weeks, several men have come forward to accuse Afrika Bambaataa of sexually abusing them when they were young boys. The first accusation came from Ronald Savage, now 50, who said at 14 years old, Bambaataa would molest him repeatedly. Since Savage came out, there have been at least three additional men who have come forward.
For the first time ever, Bambaataa opened up about the allegations. Bambaataa sat down with The Ed Lover Show this week where he maintained that the accusations brought against him are completely false.
“A lot of lies. It could be me today and you tomorrow. You know I completely deny all types of accusations that’s being put against your brother Afrika Bambaataa,” he said on the syndicated radio show.
Bambaataa also questions why the victims chose to come forward decades later. “You need to ask the question why now,” he tells Ed Lover and Monie Love. “What is the hidden agenda behind this? Is it cause I’m still being relevant today, trying do things to help people all across the world?”
Afrika Bambaata claims he never met Ronald Savage, however according to Savage, he was the youngest member of Zulu Nation at the age of 14.
“If Bambaataa says he doesn’t know me, tell him to take a lie detector test,” Savage fired back. “Ask him if he knew me or if abused me and other underage boys. I’ll take one, too, and we’ll see who is telling truth.”
Bambaataa refers to the accusations brought against him as “demonized stuff” and says he plans to speak openly about it to the media. “I’m getting ready to speak to all the different media and stuff like that now in the face of all this chaos,” said Bambaataa.
As of now, due to the statute of limitations, no criminal cases have been brought against the hip hop legend.
