Guy Gerber Refutes Rape Allegations

Both Annabell Ross and Mavi de Mars are at the forefront of a campaign to change attitudes in the clubbing industry and make Ibiza “safer for women and to take a stand against abuse”. That campaign received a significant vote of support when the music management company that promotes Gerbers Rumours and Mirror Games residencies in Ibiza suspended both parties until there is a “firm resolution” of the rape allegation “compatible with the right to the presumption of innocence of every citizen”. It also stated, “The values of the company Island Hospitality are based on integrity and honesty, with an ethical and social commitment to respect and equality to protect all its employees, partners and customers. Island Hospitality has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment, racism and violence”.

It’s a refreshingly welcome attitude to promote, and hopefully, more clubs in Ibiza will follow suit and support them without prejudice. In today’s society, one would have to question the morals of the clubs that do not, as it’s easy to say one thing and do another. The Guy Gerber affair makes for uncomfortable viewing for industry media editors. As a father of a teenage daughter, would I feel safe letting her mingle freely with some of the environments involved in the industry? No, I wouldn’t. Many people I know who work in the clubbing industry also have daughters, and they need to ask themselves the same question as it’s incumbent on us as parents and guardians to protect our children and keep them safe. We all know those that lurk in the dark shadows of clubs, like creeping hyenas waiting for wounded or disorientated prey to wander away from the herd.

We also want to safeguard the industry and make it a better place to party, but the sexual predators need to be outed or parameters introduced to restrict them. Are we to keep silent and let our children become victims of their perversions and ruin their lives? We as an industry need to do more, the majority of DJs are good people, there for the love of the music, but some have to be brave, stand up and break ranks, and without naming names say yes, maybe its a problem, and we need to take action to deal with it. Because when the sexual predators feel they are protected, they will continue to prey on naive young people who wander into their lair. We only have to remember how clerical sex abuse was allowed to develop unchecked as the Catholic institution failed to acknowledge it was an issue and covered it up, moving priests from one parish to another where they would offend again.

Hopefully, this topic can be debated at the IMS Musical Conference next season. The blog will be lobbying to include it on the agenda and keeping readers posted on any developments. I have met Guy Gerber once, working alongside him in Ibiza. On this occasion, I will reserve my opinion, but from all accounts, he is well-liked and regarded on the island, with many supporting him and viewing Mari de Mars’s claims of rape as a work of fiction.  A person is innocent until proven guilty, and Gerber must be allowed that privilege, a core principle of democracy, the same liberal system that allowed Mavi de Mars to publish her allegations on social media. Only two people know what happened that night in Mykonos; unfortunately, the reality is blurred due to the consumption of drugs which have changed much in potency, design and effect from the loved-up ecstasy pills that helped deliver the birth of the culture in the ’90s.

Rohypnol is present in every town in the UK and Ireland, and the industry needs to stigmatise it just like it does Heroin. For my generation looking in, we realise many of the problems that afflict the industry are designer drug-related. We only have to remember the late great Avicci to underline its toxic and deadly effect on people’s lives. If one good thing is to come out of this whole unsavoury affair, it highlights the need for us to have, without prejudice, an open debate on preventing rather than enabling those problems.