Seven Women Come Forward With Details of Matt Mondanile’s Sexual Misconduct

The allegations against the ex-Real Estate guitarist go back more than a decade.

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Seven Women Come Forward With Details of Matt Mondanile’s Sexual Misconduct

On Friday, news came out that when New Jersey indie-rockers Real Estate fired guitarist Matt Mondanile in 2016, it wasn’t just so he could focus on solo projects. It was because they had become aware of his allegedly reprehensible treatment of women.

Now, SPIN reports on-record accounts from seven different women detailing Mondanile’s predatory behavior. The guitarist, who has also recorded under the moniker Ducktails since 2009, is said to have repeatedly groped and kissed women without consent, usually after luring them into a bathroom or other private location. Several of the women also report a marked trend of Mondanile groping them while they slept.

The story is still developing, but the women’s accounts are eerily similar, and appear to describe routine behavior for Mondanile. The allegations date back more than a decade, and the women range from fellow musicians to teenage fans to college students, but they all address unwanted, non-consensual physical contact initiated by Mondanile. The report also details how Mondanile’s behavior was essentially an open secret in indie-rock circles. Best Coast frontwoman Bethany Cosentino, for one, called Mondanile an “absolute creep” in a tweet after SPIN’s initial reporting last Friday. The magazine says that Mondanile has declined to address the allegations, despite repeated requests to do so.

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