Ex-Real Estate Guitarist Matt Mondanile's Sexual Misconduct Allegations Detailed
Published: October 16, 2017
As originally seen on
Exclaim.ca.
Last week,
Real Estate revealed that guitarist and founder
Matt Mondanile's 2016
departure from the group was due to
allegations of sexual misconduct. Now, further light has been shed on the specifics behind those allegations, which involve at least seven women.
As
Spin reports, the on-the-record accounts allege Mondanile touched, kissed and groped the women without consent. Two of the seven women said the musician engaged in the act while they were asleep, while a third said he did while she was trying to sleep.
Spin reports that Monandile has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The oldest allegation the publication received was from 2005 during Mondanile's time as a student at Hampshire College. A fellow student named Elizabeth (last name withheld) claimed she played in a band with Mondanile and had a friendly relationship with him that year.
Elizabeth told
Spin that it was commonplace for students living on campus to leave the doors to their residence buildings unlocked. She told the publication that Mondanile had let himself into the building at least twice that year, walking to her third-floor room, getting into bed with her and groping her.
"He would say, 'I just took a Viagra, I can't help myself,'" she told the publication. "He basically molested me in my sleep. My way of eventually dealing with that was to lock my door."
Another woman named Mary — who was just 19 at the time of an alleged incident with the musician — told a story of being taken to Monandile's house in New Jersey, where he then molested her.
"I was afraid, and the entire night I was trying to stay awake," she said. "It was five in the morning, and he kept trying to move closer to me, and I was moving away. The best way I could describe it was that he was like a dog, dry-humping me."
As previously reported, Mondanile's solo project
Ducktails was dropped by
Domino Recording Co. last Friday (October 13). He had also denied the allegations in a phone conversation with
Pitchfork.
Real Estate also addressed their decision to not go public with the reason for Mondanile's firing until this year, telling
Spin the following:
At the time of Matt's dismissal from the band, the women concerned requested privacy and we honored their wishes. We remain in complete support of the affected women, and will continue to stand by any decisions they make regarding the further pursuit of this matter.
You can read
Spin's account of the allegations against Mondanile in full
here.