We've spent more than a year watching powerful men be exposed for serial sexual abuse and harassment as part of the #MeToo movement, and now it seems we'll be watching many of them try to come back.
To that end — Kirt Webster, a giant in the world of country music public relations who left his firm in November 2017 amid numerous allegations of sexual assault and harassment — has launched a new website.
“Contrary to speculation, I have never gone anywhere," Webster told The Tennessean, who first reported the news of his re-emergence. "I am alive and still living in Nashville, Tennessee. I am blessed to have many friends in the music business, many whom have opened their hearts and businesses to me."
Webster's new site — not surprisingly, perhaps — paints him as a victim set to overcome adversity.
At the top of the site, a slideshow features photos of Webster and a number of high-profile country artists — Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, among others — some of whom publicly ditched his firm after the allegations against him. A David Brinkley quote appears beneath the photos: "A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others have thrown at him."
Presumably, the "bricks" Webster means to reference are the allegations levied against him first by former country singer Austin Rick, and then by numerous people who have worked for and with him over the years.
Rick alleged that Webster used his position and power to coerce Rick, then a young aspiring country singer, and ultimately assault him.
“I started working with Kirt, and before I knew it, 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 2017. “I trusted him completely, and he wanted to make me a star just long enough to sexually molest and abuse me. And I remember one time he told me, ‘I want there to be fireworks in your career, but only if there's fireworks between us.’ And that was like pretty early on in our relationship.”
Rick described several incidents in detail, in which he said Webster made sexual advances or forced him into sexual acts. Webster denied the allegations.
But there were more. A second aspiring young male country singer came forward with similar allegations, and former employees at Webster Public Relations described a work environment in which Webster's harassment and abuse was common.
Former employees describe a workplace where Webster’s harassment and abuse were utterly commonplace, and turnover was nearly constant. They describe a firm largely staffed with young newcomers to the PR world who had nothing to compare the work atmosphere to. The people who spoke to the Scene requested anonymity because they still work in the music industry and feared retribution.One woman tells the Scene that Webster PR had “the most toxic work environment” she’d ever been in. Staffers were drawn to Webster’s firm, she says, by his hall-of-fame client list.
“He has amazing clients, and you do get to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences with him,” she says. “He knows that, and he uses it.”
The same woman says Webster regularly made abusive and sexually suggestive comments about staffers in front of their colleagues. That kind of verbal abuse, she says, would escalate sometimes. On one occasion, she says, Webster grabbed her by her ponytail and made a face as if she were performing oral sex.
Webster's own PR representatives declined to comment on those allegations at the time.
Later, BuzzFeed also published new allegations against Webster. In the end, more than two dozen people spoke out about Webster's behavior.
In his comments to The Tennessean — which include the phrase "haters will hate" — he said he had no new announcements to make. A letter on the front page of his new site ends with this line: "With the advent of news from the fall of 2017, you might ask. 'What’s next for Kirt Webster?' Be assured it will be visionary, unexpected, larger than life, and filled with newsworthy answers to that very question."
That sentence doesn't actually make sense — what's next will be filled with answers to the question of what's next? Answers inside of the answers! But also, it's not clear anyone really was asking that question.
Webster's former business partner Jeremy Westby — who was reportedly also Webster's longtime romantic partner — is still in the PR business representing some of the old firm's clients. Those clients include Lee Greenwood, The Oak Ridge Boys and Wanda Jackson, among others.
