A Mexican rock star was found dead Monday after tweeting that he planned to kill himself in a “radical declaration of innocence” after being accused of sexual harassment by the country’s #MeToo movement.
Armando Vega Gil, 63, the bassist for veteran rock band Botellita de Jerez (Little Bottle of Sherry), died early Monday, the group said on Twitter. A prosecution source confirmed Vega had been found dead at his Mexico City home, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Vega’s death poured new fuel on a fiery debate over #MeToo in Mexico. The movement has triggered a flood of sexual assault accusations against journalists, academics, writers and others in the cultural sphere in recent weeks.
Vega posted a note on Twitter shortly before his death saying he was taking his own life in reaction to an anonymous accusation that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl more than a decade ago.
The accusation was made the previous night on the Twitter account @MeTooMusicaMX, part of Mexico’s nascent but increasingly powerful #MeToo movement.
“I categorically deny this accusation,” tweeted Vega, who was also an award-winning poet and writer.
He wrote that he feared the accusation would end his career, and that he would not be able to defend himself on social media, where “anything I say will be used against me.”
He added that he wanted to spare his eight-year-old son from “suffering the effects of this false accusation against me.”
“I must clarify that my death is not a confession of guilt. On the contrary, it is a radical declaration of innocence,” he said.
