Australian pop rock band Royal Otis last year they had a modest hit with “moody”, the lead single from their latest album. hickey. After the song's release last May, people began discussing the questionable content of its lyrics, which revolve around the chorus: “My girl's a bitch when she's naughty.”
Elsewhere, frontman Otis Pavlovich sings, “Late at night she blames me,” but it was his musical partner Royel Maddell (born Leroy Bressington) who received serious allegations in a since-deleted r/triplej thread on Reddit, where users alleged he had a non-consensual sexual relationship with a minor, who was also allegedly his music student at the time.
Although the guitarist has not yet filed a lawsuit, he has requested a subpoena to force Reddit to reveal the sensitive identifying information of several users (including names, email addresses and phone numbers) so that he can “consider” suing them for defamation. As of December 24, that request had been denied by Northern California District Court Judge William Alsup, reports Financial review.
In the court case there is HereBressington said his legal team was “prepared to initiate” legal action if Reddit users were also located in Australia, but did not directly say he planned to sue the users for defamation. Judge Alsup also noted that nowhere in the case file did Bressington deny allegations of sexual relations with a minor, but instead only denied the allegations of a former partner who accused him of sexual harassment, which led to the accusations and the expulsion of Royel Otis from the record company.
Bressington said he wanted to identify “at least one single user”, adding that the comments may have been part of a coordinated smear campaign aimed at derailing his career by several people in Australia using disposable accounts, but a judge ultimately decided it was “excessive” and “unduly burdensome”, arguing that the musician had not taken all the steps he could in his home country, instead focusing his legal views on the area Reddit headquarters in San Francisco, California.
“Royel Otis [sic] The song “moody” turned out to be a hit, but also fodder, due to its lyrics, for anonymous people on the Internet who allegedly falsely [sic] Call Bressington a sexual 'predator' who engaged in non-consensual sexual relations with a minor while he was her music teacher,” the report states.
Aside from the interesting connection between the eyebrow-raising lyrics and the emergence of real-life allegations, the case immediately brings to mind 2022's All Time Low. libel suitwhich sought to identify anonymous users who accused guitarist Jack Barakat of “inappropriate behavior” with underage girls. After the social media platform formerly known as Twitter is required to disclose identifying information regarding the story of one anonymous accuser, the group continued drop the lawsuit in late 2024, deciding to “resolve the matter privately” rather than continue with litigation.
