A judge has denied Royel Otis guitarist Royel Maddell’s attempt to identify the anonymous Reddit users who accused him of grooming an underage student when he was a music teacher.
In a Dec. 24 order, Judge William Alsup said Maddell (real name Leroy Bressington) hasn’t met the requirements for a subpoena unmasking the Redditors who claimed he had been found guilty of having sex with a minor pupil. Maddell said he needed this information to bring a defamation lawsuit in his home state of Australia — but the federal judge was unconvinced that the guitarist would actually follow through.
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“No litigation to stop these statements has been filed anywhere in the world,” wrote Judge Alsup. “So far as we know, Bressington never has put pen to paper to inform any government authority anywhere in the world about the matters that concern this application, until submitting it now.”
The judge also pointed out that while Maddell declares he has never been charged or convicted of sexual misconduct by any criminal authorities, he “has not specifically rejected as false one of the most basic assertions alleged: that when not a minor he had sex with a minor.”
The ruling held that these factors ultimately weighed against ordering a subpoena against Reddit. Maddell’s reps did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday (Jan. 5), nor did the social media platform.
Maddell makes up one half of Royel Otis alongside singer Otis Pavlovic. The indie-pop duo landed their first Billboard No. 1 chart entry in May with “Moody,” though the song’s hook, “My girl’s a b–h when she’s moody,” attracted accusations of misogyny.
It was in the wake of the controversy around “Moody” that users on Reddit began claiming that Maddell had an improper sexual relationship with a student years earlier. The claims caught fire, leading to the creation of an entire subreddit titled “Royel Otis Allegations.”
Maddell got lawyers involved, asking for Reddit’s help in unmasking the users who started the scandal. But the social media company declined, citing free speech and privacy concerns. Maddell’s attorneys then took Reddit to court in October, arguing that the company “continues to allow these defamatory posts to remain on its platform and to spread beyond it.”
