for legal reasons, i think i am required to mention that these are allegations. i’ll be using statements from individuals who were affected by members of LANY and their team, and i’m keeping them anonymous for their own safety.
1. paul klein, the lead singer of LANY, is a groomer who preys on barely legal girls. this isn’t new information either - this is behavior that’s been going on for years, and he hasn’t changed.
i’m not sure if this is intentional (let’s be real though, it probably is) but going after younger girls IS a form of objectification - it’s looking for the shiny, newer toy. these girls are still young & have so much they’ve yet to experience - a red flag to say the least.
2. lewis usher, the guitar tech and stage manager for the band since at least 2017, used his position within the LANY team to flirt and send uncomfortable dms to fans.
instead of saying something publically about lewis’ abhorrent behavior once it had reached the public sphere, lewis was quietly taken off the crew (and in his words, he stepped down himself).
paul tweeted this cryptic message that few fans actually understood when the situation gained traction. the band didn’t want to hurt lewis’ name in the industry where he was still working, so it never really felt like justice.
it’s important to note that lewis was not only the guitar tech for LANY. he was FRIENDS with the band, they got dinners together, had matching tattoos, etc. there’s no way that they weren’t aware that he was hooking up w underage fans.
paul klein sent this message to a fan explaining that their approach was cryptic in order to avoid a defamation lawsuit, but then immediately started complaining about the behavior of fans that were hurt by the situation - as if they owed him anything
the band is also aware that they have a largely female fanbase. they’ve made merch about it in the past - you’d think that this would translate into them showing more love and safety to their female fans and making sure that they know that they are safe at shows.
3. and this is where the situation gets very ugly. speaking of the female fanbase - paul klein is aware of this as well and has allegedly hooked up with multiple barely legal fans while on the road.
one girl dm’ed me personally and told me that in 2019, during their tour for malibu nights, paul klein hooked up with her while she was 19 and he was 31. she mentions that he didn’t ask her age, just if she was in college
i have certainly heard other stories of paul dming girls after shows to hook up w them. while i have not personally talked to these girls nor am i aware of the details of those situations, believing victims first is so so so important - and this behavior lines right up for him.
this is such an uncomfortable situation because taking advantage of the trust your fans have in you and using it for sexual gain is incredibly manipulative above anything else!!!!
5. and despite the majority of their fans being young women, LANY has no women on their tour crew. just an interesting discrepancy between their so-called values and actual process.
6. LANY has also copied the design of a necklace that a fan gave to paul and sold it for their own profit without any credit (or revenue) being given to the fan.
7. the band does little to nothing when it comes to speaking up about social issues. this isn’t surprising, because all members of the band are registered republicans, so their beliefs would probably go against most current social issues anyway!
after being pressured by fans to make a statement about BLM, this is what their MANAGER had to say about the situation. their “activism,” if you can even call it that, has never been truly genuine.
9. and this was just .. funny to me personally - a tweet that i tagged paul + the band account in v.s. merch that came out this year
10. they also released overpriced merchandise during a PANDEMIC and then paul got mad at fans for finding that insensitive. he wasn’t even tagged in this tweet but still responded to it directly in order to place blame on the fan.
11. here are some tweets from a former member of their team shortly after they stopped working with LANY. i think that these speak volumes about the band’s behavior, coming directly from somebody who was very close to them.
and on that note, i’m finishing off this thread. please don’t listen to LANY or support them monetarily - they are not good people!!