- LONDON (Reuters) - British
rock star Pete Townshend, guitarist with legendary band The Who, on Saturday
admitted paying to view Internet child pornography but denied he was a
pedophile and said it was for research purposes.
-
- The guitarist took the unusual step of issuing a public
statement after a newspaper said police were investigating an unnamed music
star as part of Britain's largest-ever operation against Internet pedophilia.
-
- In the lengthy statement, Townshend said he had paid
to enter an Internet site advertising child pornography "purely to
see what was there" as research to fight the crime.
-
- "I am not a pedophile. I think pedophilia is appalling,"
he said in the statement which was distributed by a woman to reporters
outside his home in Richmond, south London.
-
- "On one occasion I used a credit card to enter a
site advertising child porn. I did this purely to see what was there,"
he said.
-
- Townshend, 57, said he felt "anger and vengeance"
toward those who found child pornography attractive, and said he believed
he was sexually abused as a child but could not remember clearly what happened.
-
- "To fight against pedophilia, you have to know what's
out there," he said, adding that he was involved in an anti-pedophilia
campaign that had fizzled out.
-
- Townshend, who is married with children, had earlier
left the house in a Mercedes car.
-
- A spokesman for London police refused to comment on the
matter, saying it did not talk about individual cases and was not able
to confirm that police were investigating a rock star.
-
- HIGHS AND LOWS
-
- The Who shot to fame in the late 1960s with its zeitgeist
anthem "My Generation" and cemented its reputation with such
albums as "Tommy," "Who's Next" and "Quadrophenia."
-
- Townshend, who wrote most of the band's songs, was renowned
for smashing his guitars during live stage performances.
-
- Despite its many musical highs, the band has also been
dogged by tragedy. Townshend and lead singer Roger Daltrey are the only
two surviving original members of the band.
-
- Bass player John Entwistle died in a Las Vegas hotel
room last year from a heart attack triggered by cocaine use. Twenty-five
years earlier, the band's original drummer, Keith Moon, died of an accidental
pill overdose. The Daily Mail newspaper reported that an unnamed rock star
was being investigated by officers on the Operation Ore inquiry.
-
- The operation has resulted in more than 1,300 arrests
nationwide, including 50 police officers and is partly based on information
supplied by American law enforcement agencies.
-
- Townshend said he could not remember the details of the
sexual abuse he believed he suffered as a child, "but my creative
work tends to throw up nasty shadows -- particularly in Tommy," he
said, referring to the 1969 rock opera.
-
- Townshend said he had been writing his childhood autobiography
for several years and his viewing on the Internet had helped with his book.
He hoped that its publication next year would make clear that his only
"compulsions in this area" were to fight what was happening to
children around the world.
-
- He said he predicted many years ago the Internet would
"subvert, pervert and destroy the lives of decent people."
-
- "I have felt for a long time that it is part of
my duty, knowing what I know, to act as a vigilante to help support organizations...build
up a powerful and well-informed voice to speak loudly about the millions
of dollars being made by American banks and credit card companies for the
pornography industry."
-
-
-
- Comment
Alton Raines
1-11-3
-
- We'll never know about Mr. Townsend's personal sexual
proclivities, but notice the absurd slam against "American banks and
credit card companies" when the bulk of illegal child pornography
on the internet is coming from European servers, especially Scandinavian
and Russian, not the US!
-
-
-
- Comment
- From: abmiz
abmiz@iinet.net.au
1-12-3
-
- I am inclined to believe Townsend, and his curiousity
does not make him a paedophile.
-
- You may recall that In "Tommy" one of the characters,
Dirty Uncle Ernie was a paedophile. Townsend brought attention
to this problem before it had become of interest to the media generally..
-
- Ian
Lyric
Fiddle About/Uncle Ernie/Rock Opera Tommy/The Who
- I'm your wicked Uncle Ernie
- I'm glad you won't see or hear me
- As I fiddle about
- Fiddle about
- Fiddle about !
- Your mother left me here to mind you
- Now I'm doing what I want bleedin' well want to
- Fiddling about
- Fiddling about
- Fiddle about!
- Down with the bedclothes
- Up with the nightshirt!
- Fiddle about
- Fiddle about
- Fiddle about !
- You won't shout as I fiddle about
- Fiddle about
- Fiddle about
- Fiddle about !
- Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle.
|
