Hiphop pioneer and legend Afrika Bambaataa was recently removed from his post as leader of Universal Zulu Nation (UZN) among allegations of sexual abuse. UZN released a statement saying that it is currently ‘under new leadership’ on its website.
The statement itself doesn’t name Bambaataa by name, but it does say that all of those who were involved in the cover-up either voluntarily stepped down or were dismissed from their positions. And, for the sake of journalistic integrity, they recommend the readers and media outlets to read this post here.
In an exclusive NY Daily News interview, Bambaataa is accused by former New York State Democratic Committee member Ronald Savage that he was molested several times as a teenager in the 70s. In a separate interview with Star, he goes into details about how it all went. Since then, three other men (including his bodyguard) come out accusing Bambaataa of the same thing. In a response to these allegations, Bambaataa released a statement to Rolling Stone calling the claims ‘baseless and cowardly’, with UZN initially denying the claims, backing their former leader while claiming ‘government conspiracy’, according to AllHiphop.
With all of this unrest, no one is really speaking about it; KRS-One issued a statement in regards to how his interview with NORE was misconstrued, and Talib Kweli spoke of his disappointment in how UZN is handling this situation.
I have a great love for the contributions of the Zulu Nation to Hiphop. But I’m disappointed in the way they are handling Bams accusations.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) May 5, 2016
This story will be updated as this is still developing.