A former member of the Pussycat Dolls has claimed that the girl group operated as a ‘prostitution ring’, with the members forced into sex with entertainment executives. Kaya Jones, 33, made the explosive accusation in a series of tweets on Saturday and Sunday, accusing managers and executives of taking advantage of the group she joined as a teenager in 2003.
‘My truth. I wasn’t in a girl group. I was in a prostitution ring. Oh & we happened to sing & be famous. While everyone who owned us made the $,’ Jones wrote. How bad was it? people ask – bad enough that I walked away from my dreams, bandmates & a 13 million dollar record deal. We knew we were going to #1,’ she continued.
The founder of the Pussycat Dolls, Robin Antin, blasted Jones’ assertions as ‘disgusting, ridiculous lies’. She told The Blast that Jones is ‘clearly looking for her 15 minutes’. Antin went on to claim that Jones was never even a real member of the group, and had merely been one of many trial members who did not pan out.
The accusations are also likely to outrage former members of the group, including Nicole Scherzinger. Jones’ allegations date back at least a decade, and did not name specific men who took part in the alleged abuse. In an interview over the weekend, she said that she had decided to come forward because she was deeply affected by the Las Vegas concert massacre, which took place shortly after she had left the venue for a friend’s bar nearby.
Jones’ startling claims come as mounting sexual harassment and assault allegation rock the entertainment industry, most notably regarding film producer Harvey Weinstein. The Pussycat Dolls are one of the best-selling girl groups of all times, selling 53million records worldwide before their breakup in 2010. After just two years as a member, Jones in 2005 quit the group, which was assembled by choreographer Robin Antin under a deal with Interscope Geffen A&M Records.
Jones said that part of being in the girl group was being told to sleep with executives.
‘Executives, and managers, and agents and other artists that are on the label, if you don’t want to sleep with an executive they’ll pass you to that. Or sometimes they’ll continue to pass the girl, so she’s just passed around,’ Jones explained in a recorded interview with InfoWars.com.
‘To be apart of the team you must be a team player. Meaning sleep with whoever they say. If you dont they have nothing on you to leverage,’ Jones tweeted.
‘Yes I said leverage. Meaning after they turn you out or get you hooked on drugs they use it against you. Correct. Victimizing the victim again,’ she continued.
Jones also leveled stark accusations in apparent reference to the 2014 suicide of Simone Battle, a member of G.R.L., another girl group founded by Pussycat-mastermind Antin.
Battle’s death by hanging was ruled a suicide, and a spokesperson at the time said the performer had suffered from depression due to financial issues.
‘I want the den mother from hell to confess why another 1 of her girl group girls committed suicide? Tell the public how you mentally broke us,’ Jones tweeted.
She later added:
‘It’s best to not get defensive & attack when you’re guilty. Sorry your house of cards is done. Everyone will soon know the truth …. I love how predators enjoy playing the victim. Pathetic.’
Antin responded that the comment ‘nasty’ and told The Blast that Jones had demeaned Battle’s memory by bringing up her suicide in such a fashion. Those claims came just days after rumors hit of a Pussycat Dolls reunion tour, with an official-seeming website appearing. Former Pussycat Dolls members were largely mum on Jones’ allegations over the weekend, with a few cryptic exceptions.
‘#Friday13th really brought out the crazies…’ tweeted Carmit Bachar several hours after Jones’ tweets, declining to specify what she meant.
On Friday, former member Melody Thornton tweeted:
‘It was a smart move! A Dick move but a smart one.’
A spokeswoman for Thornton did not immediately respond to a message asking if the ‘move’ she was referring to was Jones’ decision to speak out.
‘Robin & the record label made all the money. We as Pussycat Dolls were paid $500 a week. While we were being abused & used. Fact!’ she wrote.
Jones said that she had tried speaking up to the entertainment press in the past but had been brushed aside by journalists in the thrall of Hollywood and music industry titans. She attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas on October 1 shortly before a gunman killed 58 and injured hundreds, and told InfoWars the experience galvanized her to speak out publicly.
‘I finally feel the weight I’ve held in my heart lifted & mending. It’s been hard to hold lies in for people who broke me. No more,’ Jones wrote.
‘I hope more women & men come out & share their abuse & pain. We must shine a light on this issue in the entertainment business,’ she said.