Well, Moby Canceled His Book Tour

Well, we should’ve seen it coming. Electronic musician Moby has canceled the rest of his book tour in light of the explosive backlash surrounding his newest memoir.

In a statement released on Instagram, the musician wrote: “I’m going to go away for awhile. But before I do I want to apologize again, and to say clearly that all of this has been my own fault. I am the one who released the book without showing it to the people I wrote about. I’m the one who posted defensively and arrogantly. I’m the one who behaved inconsiderately and disrespectfully, both in 2019 and in 1999.”

I’m going to go away for awhile. But before I do I want to apologize again, and to say clearly that all of this has been my own fault. I am the one who released the book without showing it to the people I wrote about. I’m the one who posted defensively and arrogantly. I’m the one who behaved inconsiderately and disrespectfully, both in 2019 and in 1999. There is obviously no one else to blame but me. Thank you, and I’m sorry. Moby

A post shared by moby x?x; (@moby) on May 28, 2019 at 8:52am PDT

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Since its release earlier this month, Moby’s second (yeah, second) memoir, intuitively titled Then It All Fell Apart, in which he quirks about courting a pre-fame Lana Del Rey, hanging out with David Bowie and being denied a collaboration with Andre 3000 because the songwriter thought “too many people were hating” on him, hasn’t been received warmly.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was Moby’s claim that he dated a then-20-year-old Natalie Portman, a claim the actress has since vehemently denied.

“I was a bald binge drinker who lived in an apartment that smelled like mildew and old bricks, and Natalie Portman was a beautiful movie star,” he wrote. “But here she was in my dressing room, flirting with me.”

Portman debunked Moby’s misbelief in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, remarking that her recollection of that time was “a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school,” and claiming negligence on behalf of the publisher. She also corrected that she was 18 at the time, not 20.

Moby later apologized in an Instagram post, writing that it was “inconsiderate” of him to not contact Portman before using her name and likeness in the memoir.

As some time has passed I’ve realized that many of the criticisms leveled at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in Then It Fell Apart are very valid. I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction. I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress. I tried to treat everyone I included in Then It Fell Apart with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released. So for that I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand. Also I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14 year age difference I absolutely should’ve acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago. Moby

A post shared by moby x?x; (@moby) on May 25, 2019 at 6:44am PDT

That brings us to now: It appears likely that Moby wanted to put a cap on the bad press and has since canceled the European leg of his book tour, on which he was slated to make four appearances in the U.K.

The musician’s website now reads: “moby is canceling all upcoming public appearances for the foreseeable future.” Too bad, but at least this will all make good material for his third memoir.