Judge denies Royel Otis member’s bid to identify Reddit users in US court ruling
Photo: Teen Vogue
A US federal judge has rejected an attempt by a member of Australian pop-rock duo Royel Otis to compel Reddit to disclose the identities of anonymous users who made serious allegations against him online.
The application was filed by the band’s guitarist Royel Maddell, whose real name is Leroy Bressington, following a since-deleted thread posted last year on the r/triplej subreddit. The thread alleged that Bressington had a sexual relationship with a minor who was also his music student. The allegations surfaced around the same time the band attracted attention for controversial lyrics in their hit single “Moody”.
In October, Bressington asked the District Court of Northern California to order Reddit, which is headquartered in San Francisco, to provide confidential user information including names, email addresses and phone numbers. He said the information was required so that he could “contemplate” legal action for defamation. On December 24, the court denied the subpoena request.
According to the court docket, Bressington intended to pursue a defamation case only if the Reddit users were based in Australia. However, the filing did not explicitly state that a lawsuit would be brought, noting only that his legal team was “prepared to initiate” proceedings. The docket added: “The Royel Otis’s song ‘Moody’ proved to be a hit but also fodder, because of its song lyrics, for anonymous people on the Internet allegedly falsely to label Bressington a sexual ‘predator’ who had engaged in a nonconsensual sexual relationship with a minor while he was her music teacher.”
District Court Judge William Alsup observed that Bressington did not deny having a sexual relationship with a minor in his application. Instead, he denied claims that an ex-partner accused him of sexual misconduct, that he was charged by authorities, or that Royel Otis were dropped from a record label. Bressington has not filed any formal complaint in Australia in relation to the allegations.