Roger Daltrey: Sexual harassment doesn’t happen in the music industry

(Image credit: Shahar Azran - Getty)

The Who frontman Roger Daltrey says he doesn’t believe the sexual harassment of women happens in the music world.

Following allegations made last year against film producer Harvey Weinstein, Daltrey was asked by the Daily Mail's Event magazine if he thought there might be sexual predators in the music world.

He responds: “Why would any rock star need to push themselves on women?

“Usually it’s the other way around. I’d like to have £1 for every woman that screws my ass. Mick Jagger would be a billionaire out of it.

“If it was going to be in the rock business, it would’ve been out by now. It would’ve been out a long time ago.

“I find this whole thing so obnoxious. It’s always allegations and it’s just salacious crap. Like the allegations against Pete when he got arrested.”

That reference is to The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, who was questioned by police in 2003 for using his credit card to access a website containing child pornography four years earlier. Townshend was later cautioned and cleared of all charges.

Daltrey adds: “He didn’t have anything on his computer at all. He was accused of downloading, accused of this and accused of that. They never found one fucking thing on 35 computers. It’s a joke.”

Last month, The Who’s performance from the Fillmore East in New York from April 1968 was released via UMC on 2CD and 3LP.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.