A man that goes by the name of Jed Gordon was recently arrested and pleaded guilty on March 16th in New South Wales, Australia for the offence of statutory rape of a person between the ages of 14 to 16 years old, and has been linked throughout media stories as an ex-employee of the Australian metalcore act. However, there are several reports that state that he may be the possible brother of Parkway Drive drummer Ben Gordon though the band’s recent statement about the incident doesn’t address these rumours and the only thing linking them currently being their last names.
Arrest reports started circling on social media of what appears to be a conviction record for Jed Gordon as he pleaded guilty to the charge with the report showing his bail status remain unchanged. Originally, one screenshot of a statement alongside a picture of Gordon and the conviction record was posted, stating:
“Child Predator Alert:
“It’s come to our attention that Jed Daniel Gordon, someone deeply involved in the hardcore scene nationally, has pled guilty to the crime of having intercourse with a minor between 14 and 16 years of age 2 days ago.
“He had a prominent placement on the @5qszine podcast up until 2024. We hope he is no longer involved with the zine they publish and are not implying any wrong doing as far as others there are concerned nor do we encourage harassment of this page/people. We hope they address Jed‘s unacceptable behaviour in their own way and transparently for the hardcore scene.
“This is an urgent safety alert given the expansion of all-ages hardcore shows that we felt needed to be brought to our mates, followers and like minded crews attention.
“We do not deal in gossip culture, we deal in facts and directness. So Jed, if you are sighted at any show anyone in our circle is at we will be asking you to leave the venue. Whatever city that is.
No child predators in hardcore.
Images of the guilty plea and Jed on the next slide.”
Posted in the r/ausmetal subreddit, the post contained three screenshots, the two above – which appear to be the original post – and the one below, which seems to be a repost of the screenshots with a caption that detailed an alleged incident of their own with Jed Gordon. The third screenshot reads:
“PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIAN HARDCORE..
“Another habitual creep has been caught! Jed Gordon, best known as Parkway Drive‘s merch guy has pleaded guilty to “sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 14 and 16”, aka. the r*pe of a minor.
“We’ve all heard stories, most of us have had experiences. I remember him trying to hook up with me at a Parkway Show when I was freshly 18 and HAD A CONCUSSION. Luckily I had a friend to lead me away.
“I need to implore you to report him if you were unfortunately enough to have an interaction with him when you were under 18. There is no statute of limitations on r*pe in NSW. I’m not sure about the other states, but it’s worth reaching out if something has happened to you. Please, please reach out to them and see what they can do.
“I will be reaching out to the court for the documentation after his sentencing. I hope for the sake of everyone he hasn’t received some sweetheart deal to plead guilty and have zero punitive repercussions. But I also wouldn’t be surprised because of how much he absolutely sucks.
“Please share this and get people talking about it. He doesn’t deserve to go quietly into the night without people being aware. I especially look forward to Parkway‘s statement. If they don’t say anything, there’s something deeply rotten occurring.
“Thanks to @0161skinsau for the screenshots! This needs to be spread far and wide.
“People wonder why I still care about “cancelling” (I think it’s more holding him accountable for shit shitty actions) Michael Crafter, but this is the type of environment that was allowed to exist and thrive on BrokenGlassOnline, the amount of CP and revenge p*rn than would exist on those servers would put so many people away for a long time.
“Before Crafter blocked me, and we spoke about BGO, he told me that he didn’t own the servers and no longer has any access.. if we DO decide to accept that as true, THEN WHO HAS THEM? Where is all that information hiding Michael? Come out of your hole to talk to me about it again seeing as you insist you did nothing wrong… ever.”
On the original post on Reddit, another user commented that “this shit just does not surprise me anymore,” relaying a supposed incident in which, “I remember vividly being at the Parkway Drive show at festival hall in Melbourne. I was at the merch stand and he was there, the guy was being an absolute dickhead to me for no reason, yet being an absolute sweetheart to the teenage girls. It all makes sense now.”
It took a little bit but eventually Parkway Drive took to all of their social media channels to make a joint statement that:
“We’ve recently learned that someone we’ve been associated with has pleaded guilty to an underage sex offence in 2002.
“This is appalling and we condemn it. We’re gutted and we support the victim.
“This happened before we were a band, however we bear moral responsibility for contracting him from 2003, on and off over the years.
“While he hasn’t toured with us since 2017, more recently he’s been part of our Australian online merch team. When the band heard about this, we terminated his contract immediately. He’s no longer involved with Parkway Drive in any capacity.
“This is heartbreaking on a very human scale.
“This is still ongoing in the courts so we’re closing comments.”
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