Katarina's Benzova absence

[downzy]

Just now, Italian girl said:

it could have been  written by TB  

GNR has a publicist so I doubt it was written directly by them.  It would have been reviewed and signed off by TB and almost certainly Axl.  

[Stay.Of.Execution]

Fernando is a little spoiled brat who never had to do real work in his life but got everything handed to him because his mother hit the jackpot. He probably never experienced someone saying no to him, and especially after getting the manager job, he established a god complex, thinking he's the king of the world who gets to have everything. Even if it means by force, because Fernando doesn't take no for an answer. He's an absolute embarrassment and I hope he gets fired and his wife divorces him. It's been shameful enough that this little fucker got to be where he is the past years. 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Stay.Of.Execution

[Live Like a Suicide]

1 minute ago, D4NNY said:

I feel incredibly bad for Kat but I also feel sorry for the band as now they will have this attention when this is nothing to do with them, the name will sadly be dragged through with this story all because of this gross, pathetic, desperate man.

It has everything to do with the band. Fernando is their manager, and Beta knew of this situation, so no doubt Axl did too. Was anything done to alleviate the issue? No. There wasn't even any business protocols in place to deal with workplace situations like this. Complete amateurish behaviour. Team Brazil and the band deserve everything they get from this.

[BluegrassBlues]

I'm just so disappointed and disgusted with this. Fernando has always had creep vibes, I feel for any woman that has been left alone with him. I believe Kat and wish I could say I'm shocked, but look who we are talking about here. New music is the farthest thing from my mind right now, what I want to see is Axl/Slash/Duff take her claims about the sexual harassment seriously 

[GNR4Ever2024]

Rest of the band still follows Kat on insta.

 

They should tell Axl to get his fucking ship in order or everyone should walk. 

[DoMw94]

5 minutes ago, GNR4Ever2024 said:

He should be in fucking prison.

Was just thinking the same thing. If any one of us did any of those things, especially in a public setting, we'd be locked up!

[downzy]

3 minutes ago, AxlRQ93 said:

All they had to say was to separate the copyright allegations from the others and say like:

 

”as far as Ms. Bendoza’s claims of sexual harassment are concerned, Guns N’ Roses takes matters pertaining to the treatment of women seriously as many of our members and crew have daughters. We will be investigating this matter internally and seriously and we hope we can come to an amicable settlement with Ms. Bendoza, who provided us many great years of service as an amazing photographer.”

Agreed.

Though with this band, I'm surprised they didn't blame it on "locker room talk."

[Live Like a Suicide]

8 minutes ago, downzy said:

This was written by a PR person who likely has no knowledge of what actually happened.  

Businesses should have crisis communications plans in situations like this... no doubt GNR wouldn't have any though, lol. Poor PR officer probably had to knock this out in the last hour with no info or strategy behind it.

[James Bond]

It probably sounds extreme in the "what is that honestly going to do to help" sort of way, but I genuinely might cancel my order of the Perhaps vinyl that'll probably get delayed again anyways. I have zero excitement for that or any new music right about now.

[SilverMachine]

That GNR statement (and the fact that they were counter suing) reads to me like they were expecting the copyright claims and had a response prepared, but weren’t expecting the sexual harassment allegations. 

[downzy]

4 minutes ago, Scream of the Butterfly said:

I take it this means that Axl did know what was going on or at least Kat had tried to tell him.

"any principal Lebeis was the proxy and agent for" = Axl?

I'm not sure if you can make that assumption.  We don't know what kind of access Kat had to the band once her camera was down.  I'm not sure how much time Axl spends with those on the periphery of his organization.  

[ZoSoRose]

11 minutes ago, D4NNY said:

I also feel sorry for the band 

DUDE. This is THEIR company, not Fernando's. It is on all of those 3. If Slash and Duff don't want to rock the boat because they are afraid of Axl, that is on them. Even in the legal document, it says the band is Axl, Duff, and Slash. Axl may control the rights to the name for performances and some forward- looking releases (he really took advantage of that, eh? ), but those 3 all control the brand as a business. They agreed to let the brand be tarnished by a former housekeeper's family that have zero credentials or experience. Contrary to your beliefs, Fernando, growing up spoon- fed does not give you credentials!

I am not saying Slash and Duff did the right or wrong thing. Forward- facing, current- GNR is the same GNR as casuals remember in the early 90s. You get Axl, Slash, Duff up there playing the big songs to the old bullet logo and AfD imagery everywhere. They are raking in the dough, and maybe they think putting up with the TB- idiots is just a sacrificial price to pay. Right or wrong though, they helped perpetuate this by putting up with those goons by association. 

EDIT- This is not just a reflection of Fernando, it is a reflection of the entire GNR- leadership. 

Edited November 14, 2023 by ZoSoRose

[D4NNY]

1 minute ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

It has everything to do with the band. Fernando is their manager, and Beta knew of this situation, so no doubt Axl did too. Was anything done to alleviate the issue? No. There wasn't even any business protocols in place to deal with workplace situations like this. Complete amateurish behaviour. Team Brazil and the band deserve everything they get from this.

I would make a decent bet Slash, Duff, Melissa were entirely unaware of this history and possibly Dizzy, Fortus and Frank were unaware of this shit too. As for Axl, I hope not. Again, they didn’t do any of this abuse so no.. it has nothing to do with them personally. I’m sure they will want the appropriate outcome for this, that scumbag gone.

[Uncle Bob]

34 minutes ago, Słash said:

Logged in after 7 years! hope everyone is doing well.

This is extremely disgusing, really kick out TB and get a proper manager. 

I am honestly not surprised and won't be surprised if something similar happened with Mellisa too. 

 

hey Slash, are you releasing Monsters anytime soon?

[Jwalker19]

Oh, shit. Props to the OP for noticing her absence. Good catch. This is way bigger than we thought.

[AxlRQ93]

4 minutes ago, downzy said:

Agreed.

Though with this band, I'm surprised they didn't blame it on "locker room talk."

🤮

I feel really sickened by this. I don’t know Kat but, I doubt Axl would tolerate if someone treated Vanessa like this. Kat in her lawsuit isn’t just mentioning one isolated incident.
 

She’s documenting literally almost a decade worth of physical intimidation, harassment and near rape. This isn’t like Fernando got drunk once ten years and made lewd or questionable comments.

This was instead very calculated very creepy and disturbing Harvey Weinstein like behavior on his part, even telling her no one would believe her. And it appears no one in Camp Axl does.

its sad that it May alll end like this. 

Edited November 14, 2023 by AxlRQ93

[lost un the jungle]

The period Kat mentions in the lawsuit is also coincident when she was with Richard? I didn't find Richard's name, but man, if so it was Fernando was hitting on a band member GF at the time, no ethics at all. Also the girl seemed to have a ton of shit during this period by the little guy.

[downzy]

6 minutes ago, SilverMachine said:

That GNR statement (and the fact that they were counter suing) reads to me like they were expecting the copyright claims and had a response prepared, but weren’t expecting the sexual harassment allegations. 

Yep.

I honestly don't understand how the copyright claims get caught up in legal disputes.

You either have a contract or you don't.  Kat's legal filing makes it clear (if true) that any contractual basis for her employment ended prior to 2016 (or early on 2016).  Is GNR trying to argue that stipulations in prior contracts extended to her services post the demarcated dates noted within said contracts?  She makes clear, and seems to have a document trail to support it, that she made several overtures to formalize their arrangement but was repeatedly rebuffed by Fernando.  Maybe Guns was trying to use their legal firepower to make her submit not realizing the can of worms they were opening.  It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out, assuming updates are publicly available (which I'm not optimistic about).  

[SoulMonster]

11 minutes ago, D4NNY said:

I feel incredibly bad for Kat but I also feel sorry for the band as now they will have this attention when this is nothing to do with them, the name will sadly be dragged through with this story all because of this gross, pathetic, desperate man.

It is to do with them. Fernando is their manager. 

[jamillos]

1183. 
... "when Benzova attempted to reach out Beta Lebeis, mother of Fernando Lebeis and manager of AXL Rose, Beta ridiculed and demeaned Benzova stating the only reason she is where she is in her life is because of her son."

Chip off the old block, eh? Fuck them all. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

6 minutes ago, downzy said:

Agreed.

Though with this band, I'm surprised they didn't blame it on "locker room talk."

I presume Fernando is going to be using a similar tactic here like the other spoiled individual has in the past.

This case will be him exercising “innocent before proven guilty” for months and months as he drags it out ridiculously. It’s gonna be a long one, unless he settles. Unfortunately rich, ego entitled people that also potentially have sexually abused someone have such a high view of themselves that he’s going to fight tooth and nail here.

[Słash]

2 minutes ago, lost un the jungle said:

The period Kat mentions in the lawsuit is also coincident when she was with Richard? I didn't find Richard's name, but man, if so it was Fernando was hitting on a band member GF at the time, no ethics at all. Also the girl seemed to have a ton of shit during this period by the little guy.

I feel Fortus would know about all of this, but he would never stand up to Fernando, before also he said that he will not work with Slash and when the reunion happened, he was all love for Slash, at least DJ Ashba had more spine than Fortus. 

[Spoon87]

What a fucking shitshow.

All this because of a little guy who never had to work for anything. 

I just hope the band knows what to do.

[Dummy]

Hes the macdaddy

[DoMw94]

10 minutes ago, AxlRQ93 said:

All they had to say was to separate the copyright allegations from the others and say like:

 

”as far as Ms. Bendoza’s claims of sexual harassment are concerned, Guns N’ Roses takes matters pertaining to the treatment of women seriously as many of our members and crew have daughters. We will be investigating this matter internally and seriously and we hope we can come to an amicable settlement with Ms. Bendoza, who provided us many great years of service as an amazing photographer.”

Sorry but that would be a horrendous statement and would worsen things.

"as many of our band members and crew have daughters" – no, because it's plain WRONG. I don't have daughters and still think this sort of shit is disgusting and indefensible.

"we hope we can come to an amicable settlement" – we'll pay to make it go away.

That's how that would come across.

While I agree, ignoring it hasn't done them any favours, they'd have to be massively careful how they'd word such a thing. This ain't it.