Kool A.D., former member of Das Racist, accused of sexual assault

Former Das Racist member Kool A.D. has been accused of sexual assault by four women.

In a story published by the website Pitchfork on Monday, four women came forward to accuse the rapper of incidents of non-consensual sexual activity. The alleged incidents are said to have taken place between 2006 and 2015.

Vazquez’s accusers include his estranged wife, artist and musician Saba Moeel, former friend Marta Martinez, former collaborator Andie Flores and an acquaintance who wished to remain anonymous.

The rapper, who was in the New York rap group Das Racist from 2008-2012, confirmed to the website that the encounters had happened but said he believed them all to be fully consensual. In a statement, he wrote, “It was never my intention to hurt anybody, but through ignorance, entitlement and ego, I now see that I have.”

Moeel said that while going through the process of ending the couple’s marriage last year she came to the realization that their first sexual encounter in 2010 or 2011 was non-consensual. She also accused Vazquez of forcing her to perform oral sex on him at a New Year’s Eve party the next year.

The now estranged couple married in April 2014 and had a daughter in September of that year.

Martinez, who went to college with Vazquez, accused the rapper of sexually assaulting her when he visited her in San Francisco 2006. After she became pregnant following the encounter, Vazquez paid for an abortion. Flores accused Vazquez of sexually assaulting her twice, in 2013 and 2015. She said she was not more forceful with him because she “just didn’t totally feel safe.”

The unnamed woman, who is referred to as Senn, alleged that Vazquez attempted to force her to have sex and perform oral sex on him at her apartment in 2013. Moeel reached out to the woman after reading about her allegations in a social media post two years later.

“From that moment, I’ve been trying to arrange myself and my life in a way that would save me and save my daughter,” Moeel told Pitchfork.

While Vazquez told the website he believed the encounters to be consensual and that his recollection differed from the women, he repeatedly said that he did not wish to “deny [the women their] truth.”

“I want to utilize whatever is left of my marginal celebrity to help foster more healthy ideas of masculinity and challenge the expectations that arise from gender binaries,” he wrote in a statement. “I don’t want to cause anyone any more pain. I don’t want to be a source of trauma. I want a clear mind and an open heart.”

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