Zoe Camp, writing for The Outline:

There are those desperately searching for an argument that will let them reconcile their love of Lacey’s art with the admitted events, or offering limp defenses of his actions by noting that of course a teen girl would want to exchange flirty photos with a rock star, never mind the myriad reasons why a grown man is supposed to know better. (Equally toxic have been the invocations of Lacey’s mental health as excuses for his indiscretion, suggesting that he just couldn’t help himself.)

And:

The bleeding heart angst of emo’s singers leaked down to its boy fans; just ask any female emo fan about her experience with the men who treated them worse than the jocks they supposedly despised for being uncouth. It’s depressingly unsurprising now when a powerful man is revealed as having acted shittily toward the women around him, and less so when he comes from an environment as male-focused as emo – even when it’s somebody who was supposed to be as thoughtful as Lacey.

There’s been a swath of these articles written today and I recommend reading them all. Over the past few days I’ve received countless emails and messages from people wanting to talk about the rot at the heart of our music scene. I’ve heard from people who were abused by some of the more well-known frontmen in the scene, but aren’t ready to come forward yet. And I’ve heard from many that are. We, as a community, are going to need to face all of this head-on and come to terms with our own culpability as well.

I also want to say I am extremely disappointed that Brand New (with or without Jesse’s name attached) have not come out and asked their fans to not harass the women that have come forward with their stories. This has led to conspiracy theories spreading, harassment, and some truly disgusting behavior. Bands, labels, and all those associated with artists or celebrities need to know that part of their job when something like this comes out into the open is to make sure they’re active in the process. You can’t be silent while someone is re-victimized and think you’ve taken the moral high-ground. I believe it’s important to use your power and platform for good, and healing, not just when you want to sell records.

Shannon Keating, writing for Buzzfeed:

As a 15-year-old, if I had been approached by the lead singer of a band I believed had saved my life, there’s no telling what I would have done for him, had he asked. He and other punk-rock icons stared out at me from my bedroom walls every day, where I’d obscured my pathetically girly cloud-swirled blue wallpaper with posters and photo spreads from the Alternative Press. Lacey was my hero. I have a feeling I would have given him anything he wanted.

Like Garey, like every teenager, I was a know-it-all who thought I was a grown-up, so I wouldn’t have recognized that kind of behavior for what it was. But I also believed, at 15, that emo boys — and men — were different from “regular” guys. Emo guys were, yes, “emotional,” and introspective, and artistic, and they imbued everything with the kind of emotional weight I did as a shitty-poetry-writing teen

Jenn Pelly, writing for Pitchfork:

Third-wave emo—bubblegum emo—needed its female fans, as evidenced by the swaths of girls who screamed this music back, who took photos, who muscled against stages to get as close as possible without being crushed. But the scene did not really want us.

I am suggesting here that there is a correlation between misogynist art, the young people who make it, and the younger people who consume it. That is not a radical idea, and it strikes me now as dubious that any longtime Brand New fan would be completely shocked by these allegations. Women have long been shouting about the fucked-up power dynamics of pop-punk and third-wave emo, which have continued into the present.