Iron Reagan Fire Bassist Rob Skotis Following Allegations of Sexual Assault
Iron Reagan have fired their bassist, Rob Skotis, after allegations of sexual assault emerged this week.
Skotis was, until this week, one of four business partners in Cobra Cabana, a restaurant and bar in Richmond, VA. After the quartet announced plans to open a new pizza place earlier this week, Shit Bosses of Richmond, a Twitter account dedicated to “Exposing the abusive bosses of Richmond restaurants,” posted a number of accusations against Skotis, calling him “a rapist and a serial harasser.” The account then elaborated:
“Rob assaulted someone on tour in Philly. She came out about it and people in the hardcore scene here started to talk about it. His bandmades intimidated her back into silence, but other people started to come out about similar experiences.
“So he gets worried and starts asking friends if he needs a lawyer, admitting in the process that he gets drunk on tour and takes advantage of girls who like his very cool band.
“So now he owns a bar, and lives above it. And lucky for the ladies, if you get drunk in Cobra Cabana and need a bathroom, he’ll invite you up and let you use his. The predatory behavior continues.
“This is something of an open secret around the restaurant and hardcore scenes. People know, and protect him because they like the scene or whatever. Let’s not.”
Subsequently, the remaining partners in Cobra Cabana announced that they were severing ties with Skotis:
“As of 5:00pm today, Monday January 13th, 2020, The Cobra Consortium Corporation doing business as Cobra Cabana and Sliceoftheaction Corp doing business as Hot For Pizza has severed ALL ties with Robert Skotis. He is no longer employed at, no longer resides above Cobra, and as soon as the paperwork is finalized he will no longer be an owner of either company or business.
“We have always considered Cobra a safe haven and will continue to provide a safe place for everyone. We believe victims, we heard the allegations and the decision was made to immediately part ways. We cannot speak to the validity of the accusations, but we most certainly know that they have nothing to do with the remaining officers of the company.
“Looking forward, we do sincerely hope that everyone knows we will continue to provide and give back to the Carver community in the many ways that we have since we started. We love Richmond and continue to pledge our loyalty and commitment to making it a safer place for us all.
“Sincerely,
Josh Novicki CC, HFP Herbie Abernethy CC, HFP Al Copeland, HFP”
Although it took them another day to respond, Iron Reagan subsequently announced that they were following suit:
“Effectively immediately Robert Skotis is no longer an active member of Iron Reagan. We apologize for our delayed response to the allegations against him and hope we haven’t caused any further harm by not responding until now. We do not condone predatory behavior and would not knowingly associate ourselves with someone we felt was a threat or a danger to anyone.
“We encourage Rob to make a public statement to clarify this situation to us and the rest of the world.”
Skotis then released a statement of his own, denying all of the allegations against him:
“Dearest friends,
“As some of you know, I have recently been blindsided by a baseless attack from an anonymous twitter account. This is a nameless and faceless account, whose sole purpose is to smear local RVA business owners.
“Unfortunately, this slanderous accusation has created enough noise to cause me to be alienated from my beloved restaurant, and compelled me to at least temporarily step back from my role in Iron Reagan.
“This entire episode has been unspeakably painful and confusing. The one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that no part of this allegation is true.
“I strongly encourage everybody to consider the source of these fabrications and ask that you do not rush to judgement. Thank you friends and family, for continuing to support me through this difficult time.
“Love Rob”
MetalSucks will update this story as it continues to develop.
