Singer of German rock band Rammstein faces sexual assault accusations

The allegations are currently being investigated by German authorities, and the band’s label, Universal Music, say that they have “suspended marketing and promotional activities for the band’s recordings.” Lindemann’s book publisher, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, also dropped him earlier this month.

Christoph Schneider has issued a statement following allegations of sexual misconduct made against vocalist Till Lindemann. Schneider posted his message (in German) on Instagram, and an English translation of it reads:

Dear people,

I would like to share my personal emotions and thoughts with you.

The accusations of the last few weeks have deeply shaken us as a band and me as a person. You fans certainly too. I feel as if in shock by the things that have been shared on social media and in the press and in print about our singer. This is an ebb and flow of emotions for us band members and crew.

No, I don’t think anything criminally relevant (such as the use of knockout drops) happened. No. I don’t think anything illegal was going on, I’ve never seen anything like it, nor heard anything like it from any of our crew of 100 people. All I heard from Till’s parties were adults celebrating together. And yet things seem to have happened that, although legally ok, I personally don’t think are ok. Certain structures have grown that went beyond the limits and values of the other band members. It is also important to us that Till’s parties are not confused with our official after-show parties.

Till has distanced himself from us in recent years and created his own bubble.

With their own people, their own parties, their own projects. That made me sad, definitely. I believe Till when he tells us that he always wanted and still wants to give his private guests a good time. How exactly these guests had imagined this, however, seems to differ in some cases from his own ideas. The wishes and expectations of the women who have now come forward were probably not fulfilled. According to their statements, they felt uncomfortable, on the edge of a situation that they could no longer control.

I feel sorry for her and I feel compassion. However, it is important for me to emphasize something objective: every guest in the backstage area is free to leave (they may have to wait a moment for security to lead them safely to the exit). All bottles are sealed and in full view of the guests freshly opened or they open them themselves.

Water and snacks are available just like Security personnel and medical care available at any time. We want all of our guests to feel comfortable and safe with us!

This is our standard. So I’m sorry to hear that some didn’t feel that way.

We have the greatest fans in the world and they all deserve to be treated with respect! I’m sorry for anyone who wasn’t treated kindly or felt unsafe backstage with us.

Also for Shelby, she deserved a great concert and a wonderful evening.

But I don’t want this whole public dispute about our band to feed the extremes: neither the beast social media, which has not yet been tamed by our society, nor paternalistic tendencies to deny women in their mid-20s the ability to make self-determined decisions about their sexuality and also by no means victim blaming, so that people continue to date to talk about it if something happened to them. I wish for a calm, level-headed reflection and processing, also in our band.

And all together, six of us. We stand together.

Your Christoph Schneider.