Jonathan Wells claims that Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner sexually assaulted him in the early 1980s, according to BuzzFeed News. This is the second accusation of sexual misconduct against Wenner in as many months. Wenner is one of 46 members of the elite media accused of some form of sexual misconduct.
Wenner does not deny the incident happened; he says it was consensual.
According to Wells, in February 1983, in the hopes of landing a job with Rolling Stone, Wells spent a “night drinking and doing cocaine in Wenner’s Upper East Side home.” Then, the two men enjoyed the company of a female prostitute. BuzzFeed reports:
Once she left, the two men remained in the room, mostly naked. It was then, Wells said, that Wenner leapt on him, pinning him under his body.
“I was lying back and he put himself on top of me,” Wells said. “He was kissing me, but you know, normal stuff, kissing my chest. I remember him putting his penis in my mouth. I remember him sucking me, going down on me. I remember his hair on my stomach.”
Wells said he felt powerless and defenseless under Wenner, who weighed much more than he did.
Wenner wasn’t able to get an erection, Wells said, and eventually passed out on top of him. Wells rocked side to side to gather up enough momentum to push Wenner off him.
“I got my clothes and just tore out of there and ran home and showered,” Wells said. “I was terrified he was going to catch me.”
Wenner told BuzzFeed, “I sincerely believed our relationship was totally mutual and consensual — absolutely, and without question. I am saddened to hear this is his memory of that evening, because it is different than mine.”
Wells, who says he is heterosexual, has only ever dated women, and is now married to a woman, admits that after the alleged assault, he had consensual sex twice with Wenner. “Then I realized, ‘what are you doing?’ — I woke up,” Wells told BuzzFeed. “I was never attracted to a man in my life.”
Wells was hired as director of Rolling Stone’s book publishing division in May of 1983. He started work in July but was “unexpectedly fired” in February 1985. Wells believes he was terminated because he refused to continue his sexual relationship with Wenner.
According to notes Wells took during a meeting between the two men last year, “Wenner told Wells he remembered them having ‘a good time’ at his apartment, referring to the prostitute he invited over as ‘a facilitator.'”
“I remember pestering you a little,” Wenner said, according to the notes. “But then I could tell you weren’t into it. Then we switched the Press around and you left.”
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