Robyn And Tove Lo Join Nearly 2,000 Women Condemning Sexual Abuse in Sweden's Music Industry 

By Lauren Evans  |  November 21, 2017 | 1:31am
CelebritiesDirt Bag

Nearly 2,000 Swedish women—including Robyn, Tove Lo and the Cardigans’ Nina Persson—have signed an open letter condemning sexual harassment and abuse that pervades the music industry there, calling for consequences for perpetrators and a zero tolerance policy toward such behavior in the future.

The letter, which includes stories that range in severity from intimidation to outright rape, was published last week in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter:

“In the music industry, we work around the clock, often with unsafe and temporary employment. Being courteous and not worrying becomes extra important in order not to be [fired],” the letter reads. “This makes women in the music industry targets for [interactions] that are often of a sexual nature. We live in a life where the law of consent is still far away, where we are objectified and where sexual abuse and harassment are more common than [not].”

Three major labels have responded in support of the letter. According to Billboard, Sony Music Entertainment Sweden managing director Mark Dennis wrote on Facebook:

“Thank you to those who dared to share their stories during these days. This is an extremely dark side of the music industry which now, thankfully, comes in the light it should be. We will put all the effort to correct these distortions and, at the same time, note with great sadness that we have taken far too easy on what has proved to be a frightening structural problem.”

[Billboard]

To relieve the stresses of the week, may I suggest this soothing video of Suzanne Somers giving an MTV Cribs-style tour through her Malibu beach house? Okay maybe not the whole house. The bar area, anyway.


Somers seems genuinely content with her life, as well she should be with a house so close to the sparkling ocean that it’s practically a boat. But she also cherishes the simple things. She loves her bedazzled chair that her stepdaughter made for her! She loves her giant weird art! She loves a picture of her husband of nearly 40 years, Alan Hamel, smoking a cigar, which she says “makes me want to have sex with him” whenever she sees it! Which is like, every day! Imagine living in a house in the ocean with a man you’ve seen every day for 40 years who you still want to bone. Heaven.

Somers and Hamel previously lived in a different Malibu home that burned down in a wildfire in 2007. While Somers said it took a long time to get “back on the water,” she’s delighted that they’ve managed to return. “How can you not be happy?” she asked. If you’re Suzanne Somers, the answer seems pretty obvious: You can’t!

[People]