UPDATED: Why Artoffact Records Released a Remix by Sexual Predator Mr.Kitty
In a recent turn of events, Artoffact Records has finally commented on this situation. On November 19th, 2023, after a series of eruptions from fans and artists within the scene, Artoffact Records finally took to Facebook to issue a formal apology. Of course they backtrack on their actions, stating that they do not condone Mr.Kitty’s actions, that they’re sorry for the hurt they caused, and that they are donating to a victims of abuse charity called Joyful Heart (you can read the full statement HERE). This has led me to become extremely, cautiously optimistic that the label has learned their lesson. But I say this with frailty as Kanga has also commented on the matter. However, there’s one huge issue with this statement: there’s no mention of KANGA whatsoever in their statement.
On November 21st, 2023, two days after their issued their initial apology, they commented on the same post with a statement directed at KANGA. Again, an apology through and through, but it doesn’t seem as if this covers all the hurt that went on. While KANGA has yet to release a thorough and formal statement, she did release a quick statement on her stories. That of which you can find below.
This seems to collaborate with our initial theory that Artoffact abused their power over KANGA to forcefully release the remix. This is something that I am not okay with at all. Again, fault lies within both parties. However, if the label you’ve been a part of for so long, and one which has essentially helped her grow into more of a force than ever, you expect them to have better judgement than this. And they didn’t. This also seems like a classic issue where a woman tells a man, “No,” but he doesn’t listen. And it’s sad to say that we aren’t past this yet.
Again, I repeat what I said down below when I say that KANGA should find a new home with a different label. That, or she should go independent. Everyone knows she has the fanbase to sustain such a move. And I’d be right alongside her for the ride.
A little while back, I wanted to start contributing to the industrial and dark electronic scene in a more critical manner. Some might laugh at that considering our reputation as a website that doesn’t hold back what they think about music, but this thought spurred out after the Rammstein controversy and several others that echoed throughout our humble dark scene. This is not supposed to be clickbait, or just another feverish headline meant to disrupt communication and make barriers. No, this is supposed to be a critical look at events that occur within the scene, analyzing the situation and discussing what happened and why it matters. In this case, I’d like to discuss how one of the forerunners of underground music decided to re-release an old remix by a sexual predator in order to gain traction.
On June 26th, 2021 Mr.Kitty, who became a viral sensation after his song ‘After Dark’ went viral, had an expose written about him on the Austin Chronicle (which you can read HERE). Within this article, it was found out that Mr.Kitty had explicit conversations with a minor. In a bid to proclaim his innocence he talked about how he didn’t know the child’s age, and how depressed he became thereafter. You can see the full note he left on his social media accounts below. If anyone has ever watched Chris Hansen at work you’d know that these excuses are commonplace and unacceptable; you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it again. Mr.Kitty was married at this point to his husband, which makes the situation all the worse. Of course Mr.Kitty was promptly dropped by the majority of players in the scene, including his then record label Negative Gain. This label didn’t think twice about it and immediately severed connections within twenty-four hours of the article going live. A commendable action and one that shouldn’t be praised, but should be expected.
However, the situation only became worse as it was revealed that Mr.Kitty knew of the boy’s age and had a sexually charged conversation with the minor. The child, who will remain anonymous, posted this about his exchange with Mr.Kitty:
This situation occurred in May of 2019. I was a big fan of his music and at a time and wanted to know him more. In the 3rd of May I texted him in dm, asking him height/weight. I was with my friends and they saw what I texted. After he responded my friends asked him with my phone about his dick as a joke. He answered me, after seeing all my profile pictures and realizing I’m a minor, with a nude pic. At first, I understand why he sent me nudes since he knew I’m a minor, I was scared af but at same time I was flattered to receive this kind of attention from a guy I liked. I told him that it’s ok and no one will know about it, then he replied “Send me yours”. Later I sent him my nudes, because I wanted to revive our relations for some time by this bad way of sharing pictures. I asked him to guess my age, he thought that I was 16, but I immediately told him that I was 15 in fact. As soon as I said, he apologised, but realising that I’m ok with this and won’t tell anyone, he continued sending pics and vids.
While chatting, I sent him a vid of a “The Sims” gameplay, where I made copies of us have sex. He said he wished to see this irl but unfortunately, we were in different cities. He called me in a video chat and wanted to see me but I was too scared to pick a call because I was shy of my English and was not ready to see my idol like this. In his apology he mentioned his depression and that he felt bad, wanted to commit a suicide but all of this is a lie. He continued to chat with me till the last moment, told me he’s my daddy and sent me sex tapes, asked “Do you like me being older than you?”. I answered his provocative messages and I was not ok, even if I didn’t fully realise that back then.
All of the seriousness of this situation came up to my mind in 2020 when I had a breakdown and I had my first relationship. In April of 2020 he sent me his last sex tape with another person and asked if I was interested in sharing nudes. After my respond he deleted that video and texted “ok”.
I’m 17 right now and 2 years after I shared this story because I accidentally told someone that I chatted with MrKitty in 2019 and they asked for details. Even this situation took place a long time ago, I still get grossed out because of this. When people started to find out all the details, I was told that it’s my fault, that I made him do this and that I didn’t mention my age. Everybody defended him, saying that “he can change”, but I don’t believe that. His apology is just a try to save his career and I’m glad that people help me by sharing this story.
Now that a history has been established, this brings us to the now. Just this week, Artoffact Records released a remix that Mr.Kitty had done for one of their recordings artists, Kanga. It cannot be argued that Artoffact nor Kanga did not know about Mr.Kitty’s past as they issued apologies thereafter. This is not a situation in which they could plea ignorance; this is a situation where the record label saw how popular Mr.Kitty was on TikTok and thought they could get away with releasing his remix to bolster one of their own artists. A greedy move with dollar signs and nothing more in sight; streams and views rather than integrity.
What’s worse is that it was not Artoffact who issued the apology but it was Kanga who was forced to do so in order to save face. She posted a couple of video apologies on X, as well as a written note on her other social media accounts. Those can both be viewed below.
Rightly so, many people are currently steamed at Artoffact. One user on Facebook commented on Artoffact’s post saying, “You’re definitely letting KANGA take way more of the fall for this than is appropriate”. And this is a statement that I can agree with. Artoffact is trying to brush under the rug that they actively tried to promote a pedophile and made no effort on their part to issue a statement. They rather used Kanga’s apology note and took days to take down the remix. A remix which, in my opinion, should have never seen the light of day again.
Another user commented regarding taking down the remix. They said, “24-48 hours after the fact would have been the grace period in my opinion. After that it just seems like they are waiting to see how long they can get away with it…”. This is also true. Artoffact conducted a dangerous experiment; release a remix by someone who’s a known predator, hope that everyone accepts it, and then gain traction based off that artist’s popularity. It failed miserably and they’re keeping mighty quiet on the issue, hoping that it’ll be swept right under the rug.
In a recent story on her social media accounts, KANGA wrote this piece:
This makes it seem as if she didn’t have a choice as to whether or not the remix was released. Again, faltering back to Artoffact being the one to blame. Some are stating that KANGA still acted the villain as she shared the remix on her social media pages in story format, but (as someone who owns a record label and knows the business), there are certain clauses and agreements within contracts that force artists to promote music released by their record label regardless of what it is. This could be the case and could have led KANGA to ruin should she have decided not to continue forth with the remix.
All this said, I do think that KANGA does deserve some reprimand to a POINT. The fans told her what they thought of the move and she removed the remix, profusely apologized, and has more to say on the matter in the near future. I do think that KANGA could have been more vocal about the remix when it was first released, stating her disgust with the label and making it clear that she was not okay with them releasing a remix by a sexual predator and attaching her name to it. There’s a reason Mr.Kitty was barred from the scene a while ago, and Artoffact clearly chose to ignore that fact.
And thus this does bring the future to mind. Artoffact will not be label that I will support going forward. I repeat myself when I say this, but they had greed in their eyes and chose a sexual predator who went after a minor while he was married to promote another one of their artists despite prior knowledge to the entire scenario. It is a disgusting and filthy act and, while their artist is taking a punch to the gut over this, they’re staying quiet and just using her words and phrases rather than speaking out themselves. It’s simple cowardice at its finest.
As for KANGA, I do hope that she’s able to move on from this. I’ve always enjoyed her music and while she’s not entirely to blame, I think she could have been a bit more outspoken at the start. Then again, we don’t know what happened behind the scenes; whether or not there was discourse between her and Artoffact. What I do hope for her is that she leaves Artoffact for good; they fucked her over once, they could do it again. There are plenty of other labels within our dark electronic scene who could offer her the same amount of support, if not even more. A label such as, I don’t know, Negative Gain? Just shooting some ideas.
Steven Gullotta
info@brutalresonance.comI've been writing for Brutal Resonance since November of 2012 and now serve as the editor-in-chief. I love the dark electronic underground and usually have too much to listen to at once but I love it. I am also an editor at Aggressive Deprivation, a digital/physical magazine since March of 2016. I support the scene as much as I can from my humble laptop.
Share this review
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Shares
Merciful Nuns - Hypogeum Ii is available at POPONAUT from 10,95€