Overview

Emo Sex Cult refers to series of abuse allegations toward American musician and recording artist William Francis, who reportedly physically and emotionally abused numerous women and young girls for nearly a decade. Francis, better known under his stage name William Control, has denied the accusations, stating that he believed that his relationships were consensual.

Background

In June 2018, Vitoria Chan posted a Facebook accusing William Francis aka William Control of operating a sex cult in which women would allegedly be groomed for, coerced and forced into sex with Francis.^[1] Chan wrote, "Would like to publicly restate that it is known to myself and many others that the artist known as 'William Control' operates what can only be described as a sex cult, that targets young emotionally unstable women into becoming BDSM sex slaves[…]I started to get groomed into this cult when I was 14 years old and went through extreme mental and emotional problems until I was 17 years old." In addition, Chan shared a series of screen captures of Twitter direct messages with Francis and others, which imply a sexual relationship with women as young as 14 (examples below).

Developments

On June 5th, 2018, the website Sick Chirpse published an article about the accusations. They also reported that some of the tactics that Francis used included branding women and forcing them to get tattoos that proclaim his ownership of these women.

Chan clarified that to her knowledge Francis did not have sex with underrage girls. They wrote: "Vitoria wanted to make clear that he only groomed the girls when they were underage – they were then made to take part in gross sexual situations once they were of legal age at 16 or 18. To her knowledge William Control has not had sex with any underage girls)."

The following day, the Tumblr, Talk About the Sex Cult launched. The site houses various allegations, news and other pieces of evidence and testimony that point to the abuse by Francis.^[2] That day, the blog published a series of text messages with Francis in which he denies the allegations.^[3]

On June 19th, The Daily Beast^[4] published an extensive report on the "Sex Cult." In the article, numerous women give accounts of their relationship with Francis, specifically non-consensual encounters with him. One woman claims to have been extorted for $100,000 and threatened at gun point by Francis, others claimed physical violence, which included, "“collapsed throat, dislocated jaw, and black eyes.”

They wrote about one accuser named Lily. The Daily Beast reports:

"Lily says she ended up driving to a William Control show in Orlando in November 2012 'as part of my ‘slave duties.' 'So that night, it was just, maybe the sex started out consensual, but it was just brutal, way beyond like spanking or biting, it was like he broke skin when he bit me and I was crying, and there was a point where he had said, ‘I can’t do this if you’re going to fucking cry like that.’ And then he flipped me over and I definitely said no, and I was definitely still crying, and he anally raped me. And then he left me there to go sound check for his show."

Francis's Reponse

On June 7th, Francis responded to the allegation in a Facebook post.^[5] He said, "There are lots of things that have been said that are outright lies. I have never been with underage girls. I have never been involved in a 'sex cult.'" The post (shown below) received more than 900 reactions and 140 shares in one week.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets have covered the story, including Pitchfork,^[6] The Daily Mail,^[7] The Daily Dot ^[8] and more.

Search Interest

External References