Panic! at the Disco has fired guitarist Kenny Harris after sexual misconduct allegations surfaced on Twitter.
The band announced Harris’ departure on Twitter on Saturday, saying that Harris was leaving for “a personal matter.”
Touring musician Kenny Harris will no longer be performing with us because of a personal matter.
— Panic! At The Disco (@PanicAtTheDisco) September 22, 2018
Harris was allegedly messaging underage girls and asking them for photos.
Twitter user @donasnooze posted on Saturday about her experience as a teenager with the musician, saying that she sent Harris a photo on Snapchat when she was 16 years old. The two communicated over Snapchat, with Harris continually asking @donasnooze to send him photos; @donasnooze implied on Twitter that Harris was asking for provocative snaps.
Eventually, after @donasnooze avoided sending the selfies to Harris, he stopped communicating with her because, “he realized he wasn’t gonna get what he wanted,” she said.
After posting the thread on Friday, @donasnooze started tweeting screenshots of direct messages that others had sent to her, detailing similar experiences with Harris.
Double smh pic.twitter.com/1oZsgQZYdJ
— ash (@donasnooze) September 21, 2018
a grown man asking minors for selfies is just so odd to me. pic.twitter.com/wNjPEIdeQW
— ash (@donasnooze) September 22, 2018
— ash (@donasnooze) September 22, 2018
again with the selfie thing… ODD pic.twitter.com/Z7q3O4tzDd
— ash (@donasnooze) September 22, 2018
— ash (@donasnooze) September 22, 2018
Some of the young women who came forward said they were as young as 13 when they were interacting with Harris.
The thread also includes messages from fans dissecting Instagram DMs and Snapchat messages, searching for more, or better proof.
The thread addresses a complicated sexual power dynamic on social media when users have access to almost everyone they could ever want to reach—including musicians whom they idolize. And while many of the messages documented in the thread don’t include specific explicit requests, like “Take your shirt off,” or “Show me your boobs,” the desire for that kind of provocative photo is implied. And if it’s not granted, then the attention—hoped-for, fantastic, improbable—vanishes, along with the validation that came with it.
Early Sunday morning, @donasnooze tweeted: “I’d just like to say, it was an absolute honor to use my account as a platform for people to come forward with their stories. I’m so glad i could finally give the victims a voice. so proud of every single one of you. goodnight.”
Harris has not yet responded to his ouster or the allegations. Panic! At the Disco has not given further explanation for Harris’ departure.
