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Holy Roar team resign following sexual assault allegations against the label’s owner

By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 9 September 2020

The employees of independent record label Holy Roar last night announced they had all resigned from the company with immediate effect after allegations of rape, sexual harassment and abusive behaviour were made against its owner Alex Fitzpatrick.

The announcement from the Holy Roar team – as well as statements from a number of artists signed to the label – followed a post on Instagram earlier this week that called on those associated with Fitzpatrick and his company to “consider how their affiliations … may be perceived by present and future audiences due to the damaging and abusive behaviour of Alex”.

The post also stated that “multiple attempts” had been made to make Fitzpatrick aware of the harm he has allegedly caused through abusive behaviour, but that those efforts had “not been respected or taken on board”.

A number of artists who work with the label – including Ithaca, Apologies I Have None, Respire, Svalbard, Palm Reader, Fall Of Messiah and Renounced – quickly issued statements acknowledging the allegations, pledging support for the alleged victims and confirming they were now reviewing their options regarding future work with Holy Roar.

One of the label’s most prominent acts, Rolo Tomassi, went one step further, immediately confirming they had stopped working with Holy Roar entirely. They stated on Twitter: “In light of the allegations about Alex Fitzpatrick, we have ended our relationship with him and Holy Roar as a label, effective immediately. We have zero tolerance for abusive behaviour and stand in solidarity with those that have come forward”.

Late last night Holy Roar employee Justine Jones posted a statement on the label’s official Twitter account on behalf of herself and her two colleagues. She wrote: “We have spent the last 24 hours in horror of the allegations that have been made against Alex Fitzpatrick, the owner of Holy Roar”.

“The extremely serious allegations are against everything that myself, Sam, Wil and our bands stand for”, she added. “We, the label’s employees, are resigning from working with Holy Roar, effective immediately. We are sorry for the long silence, it was a lot for us to process with our bands and personally and we found out the same time as the public”.

Fitzpatrick himself is yet to respond to the allegations and what they mean for the future of his label, though last night’s post from his employees concluded: “Alex will be making his own statement in due course”.