I BELIEVE PETE TOWNSHEND: I want to go on record as saying right now that I don't think Pete Townshend is a pedophile, or that he knowingly accessed child pornography for nefarious purposes. I am convinced that Townshend, as a survivor himself of child sexual abuse and someone who has covered the subject in his art, was researching his autobiography like he says he was.
The charges should of course be vigorously investigated, but if you ask me, I don't think there's any way Townshend could be guilty, for one simple reason: now that we're nearly a decade into the internet era, there's not an internet porn connosiour on Earth (kiddie or otherwise) who doesn't know how to find the porn he/she wants for free; if Townshend really were the pedophile Scotland Yard says he is, he likely would know how to find kiddie porn with relative ease and for free, without stumbling for his credit card to use a pay site.
One more thing about this: I haven't heard anyone mention it yet this week, but I remember about ten years ago Townshend caused a minor stir when he announced he'd had affairs with men in his distant past. Here's a how-long-before: you've gotta think some ultra-conservative pundit (Coulter? Derbyshire? Rod Dreher?) will try to use this against Townshend, re-using the "gays are all child molesters" line left over from the Catholic Church scandals. I hope this doesn't happen, but I suspect it will.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of has-been celebrities accused of pedophilia:
HEADLINE I THOUGHT I'D NEVER SEE: "The Persecution of Pee-Wee Herman." George Bush is President... we're going to war in Iraq... Pee Wee Herman is being prosecuted for a sex crime- IT'S 1991 ALL OVER AGAIN!
Posted by Stephen Silver at January 16, 2003 08:45 PM