Singer/songwriter Jake Mclefresh, also known as Front Porch Step, has been under accusation of sending explicit sexual text messages to multiple underage girls. Mclefresh is 23 and was born in Newark, Ohio. These accusations were first made when girls started sharing their stories on the blogging website Tumblr of their ‘relationships’ with him, claiming how he was controlling and sexual.

On January 6^th Vans Warped Tour announced that Front Porch Step would be playing their summer event. Not 24 hours later a petition for Mclefresh to be kicked off the tour was up and had hundreds of signatures. As of January 7th there were about twelve thousand. As he is a famous artist in the pop punk community, there also was a counter-petition to keep him on, (requiring fewer signatures than the petition to have Mclefresh removed) as he is already on the set list and seeing as how there was no evidence of such accusations. There is no probative evidence to support these claims but screenshotted text messages.

Living in the era of technology that we do, the availability of photo editing software, such as Photoshop, is increasing and we see it in magazines every day. These photo editing softwares could have been behind the supposed text messages from Mclefresh. There are many girls whose stories are identical, one girl even states in her anonymous posting, “I honestly didn’t feel manipulated or taken advantage of until two days ago, when other girls came out with their stories. Stories that were identical to mine.”

However, if indeed the text messages are legitimate and Mclefresh did send nude photographs to underage teens, again we live in an era where blocking a person from texting you is only two taps away. The girls that are suggesting he forced phone sex and there were girls stating this. Do you realize there is a big red button you press and that voice on the other side of the phone is gone? Imagine that.

Mclefresh has stopped his tour stating “I am aware of the serious allegations and sensational things being posted on the internet about me and my personal life. While this is personally difficult to experience, I am taking the appropriate, meaningful, and objective steps to address the severity of these things and the horrendous words being used. I would truly hope that others who have or will propagate these serious allegations will do the same.”

FSA Connection Questions

1. In the article, the author is trying to convey about the artist?
2. In the piece, the word allegations mean what?
3. What is the main idea?
4. What two sentences best summarize this piece?
5. What is the connotation of the word objective in the story?