A John Doe who accused pioneering hip-hop artist Afrika Bambaataa of child molestation and sex trafficking has won a civil case in New York State’s Supreme Court. Court records reviewed by Rolling Stone reveal that the plaintiff’s motion for a default judgment was “granted without opposition” by Judge Alexander M. Tisch because Bambaataa, who has faced numerous accusations of molesting boys, never showed up to court.
The suit was filed in 2021 and alleged that “from 1991, when the Plaintiff was merely 12 years old, to 1995, the Plaintiff was repeatedly sexually abused and sex trafficked at the hands of the defendant.” Bambaataa has never responded to the suit’s accusations. Bambaataa’s manager did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and Rolling Stone was unable to immediately reach an attorney for the DJ-producer.
In 2016, amid the first public accusations that he molested boys in the Bronx, he told Rolling Stone that “I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone. These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time.”
That year, three Bronx men accused Bambaataa of molestation, including Hassan Campbell and Ronald Savage. The latter man recently recanted his claims that Bambaataa molested him while he was a 15-year-old “crate boy,” or record-carrying assistant, to the Universal Zulu Nation, the group that Bambaataa co-founded. Last August, Savage told AllHipHop, “Bambaataa is not a pedophile and, in my eyes, he was doing something that was consensual with someone that he thought was of age.” He now claims that he met Bambaataa at a club while using a fake ID, noting, “I wish, back in 2016, I remembered about the fake ID.”
In 2016, an emotionally charged phone call leaked where Zulu Nation member Mickey Bentson chastised Savage for his abuse accusations, telling him, “You are trying to destroy a brand.” On the call, Savage said, “You know how long I’ve been holding this shit in. I just could not take it anymore.” Since then, Savage and Bambaataa have seemingly reconciled, taking a picture together last year.
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Longtime New York DJ Funkmaster Flex referenced Savage’s recanting during a controversial July 2024 radio show in which Bambaataa played a DJ set. “It seems that there’s a discrepancy that has been cleared up with Afrika Bambaataa and the young man Bee Stinger,” Flex said, using Savage’s nickname. “Bee Stinger is now saying that Afrika Bambaataa is not a pedophile.”
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Journalist and activist Leila Wills, co-founder of the advocacy group Hip-Hop Stands With Survivors, filed an FCC complaint over Flex’s comments, telling Rolling Stone that “The station was reckless with allowing this man in there as a guest when he has an open case of the most horrific nature.”
She added that even though Savage recanted, there are 12 other men, including the John Doe in the recently resolved case, who have alleged abuse at Bambaataa’s hands. “Bambaataa is alleged to have sold a 12-year-old for money to adult men to take advantage of,” Willis said, referencing a central claim in the John Doe suit that just prevailed in court. “He has not defended himself, so Flex and HOT97 cannot protect him.”
