Arcade Fire Frontman Win Butler Accused of Sexual Misconduct

Singer-guitarist Win Butler of the Grammy-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire is being accused of sexual assault. In a new report by Pitchfork, four people said they had inappropriate sexual interactions with Butler due to their age gap, power dynamics, and the context in which they occurred. 

Three women’s interactions with Butler took place between 2016 and 2020 when he was between 36 and 39 years old the women were 18 to 23 years old and devoted Arcade Fire fans. One gender-fluid person who uses they/them pronouns reported Butler sexually assaulting them twice in 2015, when they were 21 and he was 34. 

In one case, they were riding together in a car, and in the other, he allegedly showed up at their apartment despite text messages telling him not to. Besides viewing screenshots of text messages and Instagram messages between them and Butler, Pitchfork spoke with friends and family members who said they remembered being told about the alleged incidents.

The people interviewed for the story knew each other only recently. Stella (a pseudonym) mentioned Butler by name in a post on her Instagram Story on July 21, 2020. “I want to share one of my stories that I’ve kept secret for so long,” she wrote. “Sexual predator—from when I was an 18-year-old fan girl, he would constantly try to coerce me into sexual encounters and sending nude photos of myself and sending unsolicited nude pictures of himself after I repeatedly told him I was not interested.”

A woman unconnected to the others described an in-person interaction with Butler in which the power dynamics between them blurred the lines of consent. An acquaintance recalled seeing Butler’s nude images on the woman’s phone. “It’s this really complicated thing,” the woman told Pitchfork. “Yes, it was consensual, but also, there’s a side to it that was almost like, I couldn’t say no.”

When Fiona first came across the other allegations on Reddit, she said, she was shocked, and her mental health took a downward turn, leading her to seek immediate professional help. Asked to comment, Butler contacted Pitchfork via crisis public relations expert Risa Heller in New York. Butler acknowledged having sexual relationships with each of the four individuals in his first statement to Pitchfork but maintained that they were consensual. He offered to connect Pitchfork with women who had previously shared consensual sexual experiences with him through Heller. 

A written statement from Butler’s longtime partner, singer and multi-instrumentalist Régine Chassagne, whom he married in 2003, acknowledged Butler’s perspective, concluding, “He has lost his way, and he has found his way back.” A second statement Butler provided to Pitchfork addressed the allegations again, talked about a period of drinking and depression, and apologized repeatedly.

“While these relationships were all consensual, I am very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behavior,” he wrote. “As I look to the future, I am continuing to learn from my mistakes and working hard to become a better person, someone my son can be proud of. […] I’m sorry I wasn’t more aware and tuned in to the effect I have on people – I fucked up, and while not an excuse, I will continue to look forward and heal what can be healed, and learn from past experiences.”

One of the people who came forward about Butler’s alleged misconduct, going by the pseudonym Lily, said they were frustrated by Butler’s response to the stories, which apologized but challenged their recollections point by point. “Apologies are things I’ve come not to expect from people who perpetuate harm,” they said. “But if he could sit back for a moment and realize what he has done enough to understand that he has to change his behavior, then maybe that would be enough to protect other people moving forward.”