The drummer with the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros announced his resignation Monday after being accused of rape in the United States.
Local media said American artist Meagan Boyd had accused Orri Pall Dyrason of raping her twice in Los Angeles in 2013. He denied the allegations.“In light of the scale of this matter, I have decided to leave Sigur Ros,” the drummer wrote on Facebook, denying the allegations.
“That is a difficult decision for me, but I cannot have these serious allegations influence the band,” he said.
The Reykjavik group also took to Facebook saying his resignation had been accepted.
“In the wake of the extremely serious and personal allegations made against him in recent days we have today accepted the resignation of our band mate Orri Pall Dyrason to allow him to deal with this privately,” the band said.
The rape allegations were reportedly made on Boyd’s Instagram account which has since been shut down.
The drummer pledged to “do anything in my power to get myself out of this nightmare, but out of respect for those actually suffering from sexual violence, I will not take that fight public”.
Sigur Ros formed in 1994 and won international acclaim for their album “Agaetis Byrjun”, released in 1999.
Orri Pall Dyrason joined the band before their third album came out in 2002 titled “()” .
(AFP)