Austin Rick
In the fall, former country singer Austin Rick levied allegations against PR executive Kirt Webster that sent shockwaves through the country music world.
"It didn't take long before I was trapped in a hellhole that I could not get out of,” Rick told the Scene in October of his experiences with Webster, which began roughly a decade ago. “I trusted him completely, and he wanted to make me a star just long enough to sexually molest and abuse me."
In the wake of Rick's allegations, more performers and music business professionals came forward about Webster, whose firm Webster Public Relations represented such big-name stars as Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock, Hank Williams Jr. and Cyndi Lauper, among many others. Within days, Webster PR's roster of clients fled the firm, and the company announced that it would rebrand as Westby Public Relations under the stewardship of Webster's longtime partner — both business partner and romantic partner, according to reports — Jeremy Westby.
Over the weekend, BuzzFeed News published a longform report about the Webster fallout. "Country Music Has Found Its Weinstein Scandal," reads the BuzzFeed headline, "So Why Hasn't There Been a Reckoning?" The piece documents Webster's alleged intimidation tactics within his firm, points to sometime Scene contributor Marissa R. Moss' excellent recent Rolling Stone Country report about harassment within the country-radio industry, and explains that — despite all the gross misconduct that has been unearthed — the country world appears to have slid largely back into a business-as-usual mentality.
And that, according to Austin Rick, is "shameful." In a letter sent to the Scene, Rick says that the only way for the country industry to experience the long-term culture change it needs is for the men and women at the top to "step up and start speaking explicitly about this issue." Read Rick's letter below.
I’ve had a lot of time to relive the many ways Kirt Webster preyed on me. I’ve felt relief, and then I’ve been glad. I’ve gone through another period of shame, doubt, and fear. Currently, though, I’m managing waves of anger. I’m pissed off — both at what happened to me and at the shameful industry response to it. A few white roses and a song or two — while probably 100% well-intentioned — aren’t going to cut it. Everything stems from the top, and by that I mean Music Row — label heads, publishing execs, CMA and ACM directors and board members. These women and men need to step up and start speaking explicitly about this issue. Until this occurs, there’s no opening for long-term culture change.Kirt Webster is a coward. What do cowards do when they perceive a threat? Their first impulse is to hide. They want to dodge and deny. This is what Kirt has been doing over the past three months. Not a peep from the man. Kirt has his head buried in the sand somewhere because, well, nobody in country music has shown the bravery or determination to hold him accountable to the truth. It’s astronomically more beneficial (however amoral it is) for the CMA and ACM leadership to stay mum on Kirt, because the alternative is to acknowledge the reality of what has taken place, and continues to take place, on their "island of morality."
The two recent CRS "smokescreen" sexual harassment sessions demonstrate what is wrong with Music City. Victims absolutely do want and need information, but it’s not because they aren’t sure what sexual assault looks like. Country music is, and has been for decades, thoroughly aware of the evils that lurk. It’s nothing new. The only difference now is that people have, and are continuing, to expose it.
Kid Rock has been outspoken, relatively speaking, about what Kirt Webster did to myself and at least 24 others. His views bother me a bit, because he supports my accounts in one breath, but then he questions them in the next. He says he hopes the truth comes out. I hope that by this point he’s aware that he need only call me if he wants to better understand. I’ll share with him all the nitty-gritty details about Kirt Webster (and his operation) he could ever want to know, and I’ll also help explain why he might not have ever had a clue about anything taking place.
Dolly’s take on this makes me sad. For all the good she’s done during her career, it’s ironic to me that she draws her morality line at sexual abuse. Apparently that’s not important enough for Dolly to want to get to the bottom of. The only comment she’s given is to say that she hopes I’m a liar. She hopes that myself and Kirt’s at least 24 other victims are all conspiring to peddle terrible falsehoods — all so that she doesn’t have to think any differently about her "friend" — who has been maliciously exploiting her all along to get his twisted jollies off.
