Oh Great, Ryan Adams Appears to Be Planning a MeToo Comeback

Right on schedule, less than six months after the New York Times reported on multiple instances of Ryan Adams allegedly manipulating and using his stature to sexually pursue young women and girls, the 44-year-old singer seems to be plotting his comeback. Adams apparently felt the need to let everyone know he’s “here for the music, for the love and for making things better,” in an Instagram post riddled with other cliches.

Adams chose to pair a lengthy caption with a photo, presumably of Adams, featuring a man surrounded by darkness, holding a microphone and clawing one hand in the air, as if he were drowning. He starts off the caption by announcing that, above all, he is focused on “the truth.” He writes:

“I have a lot to say. I am going to. Soon.
Because the truth matters.
It’s what matters most.
I know who I am. What I am.
It’s time people know.
Past time.

Like many others before him, Adams gestures towards his history of being a good (or good enough) guy: “I’ve tried my best to be open and accountable […] I’m trying.” He cycles through a couple hardships, mentioning his late brother and offering his sympathies to “the Meineres community who suffer every day” (Meineres is a rare inner ear disorder that can cause extreme dizziness, according to the America Hearing Research Foundation). Of course he throws in some good, old-fashioned “Believe women” language:

Believe Women.
Believe Truth.
But never give up on being part of solutions, and healing.

Note how giving women a chance to speak here is simply another opportunity to uncover the “Truth,” which—I’m guessing—Adams believes with exonerate him. (In February, the FBI opened an investigation into Adams, to look into claims he once Skyped with a 14-year-old girl and appeared nude on the call.)

The Instagram is one in a batch that Adam posted on Saturday, his first time posting on the platform since February. Other photos included random snapshots of his life, like what he’s listening to while gardening. See, everything’s totally normal!

The beats of Adams’s non-apology should sound very familiar. They are eerily reminiscent of Russell Simmons’s campaign to clear his name, which eventually pivoted to “Believe women,” as well; likewise, in an initial statement Louis C.K. said “I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.” In reality, these men are asking for the opposite—hoping the public will buy into their redemption narrative and step away from the words of their accusers.