Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock Addresses His Father’s Sexual Abuse Allegations

Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock, is speaking out about the sexual misconduct allegations against his father, playwright Israel Horovitz.

“I believe the allegations against my father are true, and I stand behind the women that made them,” Ad-Rock said in a statement.

Nine women have accused Israel Horovitz of sexual assault and misconduct to the The New York Times, including Ad-Rock’s high school girlfriend, Joceleyn Meinhardt.

Meinhardt claims that the author raped her in 1989 when she was 19 years old.

While Ad-Rock may stand behind the women accusing Israel Horovitz, the 78-year-old responded to the claims with his own statement saying he remembers the instances differently.

“I apologize with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions, and to my family and friends who have put their trust in me. To hear that I have caused pain is profoundly upsetting, as is the idea that I might have crossed a line with anyone who considered me a mentor,” Israel told the Times.

Israel was the founding artistic director of the Gloucester Stage Company, a Massachusetts theatre group that has since cut ties with him. Elizabeth Neumeier, Gloucester’s board president, revealed that there had been previous complaints made against Horovitz.

“I apologize to the brave women who came forward in 1992 and 1993 but were not listened to,” Neumeier said. “We are individually and collectively appalled by the allegations, both old and new.”