Abuse allegations made against Hookworms frontman MJ in 2018 withdrawn
The abuse allegations made by musician Alanna McArdle against Hookworms frontman MJ on behalf of an unnamed woman in 2018 have been formally withdrawn.
McArdle – former frontwoman of Joanna Gruesome – has formally withdrawn the allegations she made on a blog against MJ – real name Matt Johnson – on behalf of another woman, known as ‘L’.
In a statement on Twitter on May 26, McArdle wrote, “The litigation brought by Matt Johnson against Alanna and L/XYZ has been withdrawn.
“Alanna has now withdrawn the blog post from publication. Alanna bears Matthew no malice and hopes that he will do what is necessary to continue his music career. The blog post has been taken down. None of the parties will make any further comment on the case.”
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— Lan (@alannamcardle_) May 26, 2021
In turn, the lawsuit Johnson brought against McArdle for libel and malicious falsehood has been withdrawn, the Guardian reports.
The original allegations made by McArdle in 2018 on behalf of L claimed that Johnson abused L during a romantic relationship they had in 2016.
After the claims were made online, Johnson responded in a now-deleted tweet, “To be clear, I deny and always will deny the allegations that were posted yesterday.”
“[L] asked me to characterise some of my actions towards her as abusive to assist her, she said, with her ongoing recovery from historic sexual abuse that occurred prior to us knowing each other. I regret now accepting any blame.”
Hookworms formed in 2010 and released three albums together, before they disbanded following the allegations made by McArdle in 2018. Their last album, ‘Microshift’, came out in 2018.