Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin claims Rodney Bingenheimer sexually assaulted her as a teen

The Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin has accused legendary rock DJ Rodney Bingenheimer of sexually assaulting her when she was about 15 years old.

In a new bombshell report from Rolling Stone, Wieldlin, 65, claims that Bingenheimer cornered her in the back room of his Los Angeles club English Disco, and rubbed his crotch against hers until he ejaculated.

“I remember [the room] being very dark and cold,” Wiedlin explained Rolling Stone. “I was a virgin. I didn’t have much experience with boys; boys tended to ignore me…. He picked me out that night. I didn’t know what was going to happen before, but he started rubbing against me with his crotch against my crotch. I didn’t know what to do; I was pretty much frozen. I didn’t say anything; I didn’t try to stop him.”

“I wasn’t entirely sure what had gone down until we went back out,” she added. “He disappeared [into the crowd], I went back to my friends, and my satin pants were a big mess,

Bingehimer, who currently hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel, was also an early promoter for the Go-Go’s and Wiedin admits he helped her band become household names. Redferns

At the time of the alleged assault, Bingenheimer would have been about 27. Wiedlin documented the encounter in the 2016 book “Under the Big Black Sun,” by John Doe of the punk band X, but she avoided naming her alleged assailant at the time.

“It was weird; it never occurred to me that that had been a crime,” Wiedlin explained. “I didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t until the #MeToo movement started when I realized I was sexually assaulted by [an adult] when I was 15.”

The Post has reached out to Bingenheimer and Wiedlin for comment.

Rodney Bingenheimer attends The Ebersole Hughes Company and Vintage Los Angeles Host L.A. Premiere of “MANSFIELD 66/67” on October 25, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

“I was this sweet, sensitive, artistic little girl, and I really wanted to be an adult,” Wiedlin added. “I was intrigued by the sexuality of Bowie and these other people. And I wanted it, but I was also scared and I didn’t want it, and I didn’t know how it was going to happen. And I certainly didn’t think this kind of creepy little man was something I would’ve chosen.”

Wieldin is just one of four women to accuse Bingenheimer of similar misconduct in the Rolling Stone report, which comes about eight months after Runaways songwriter Kari Krome alleged in a lawsuit that Bingenheimer sexually assaulted her when she was a minor one night in his apartment.

“It was through his position of authority as an adult that Defendant Bingenheimer, a 28-year-old man, well-connected in the music scene, [and] the owner of the nightclub ‘Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco’ on Sunset Strip, groomed and exploited Plaintiff, a minor, and perpetrated his sexual assaults upon her,” her lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff is informed and thereon alleges that all the sexually abusive and harassing conduct alleged herein was done to satisfy Defendant Bingenheimer’s own prurient sexual desires.”

The Go-Gos, (L-R) Gina Schock (drums), Belinda Carlisle (lead vocals), Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar), Kathy Valentine (bass), and Jane Wiedlin (rhythm guitar), playfully pose during a 1985 Hollywood, California, portrait session. Getty Images

Krome spoke to Rolling Stone upon learning of Wiedlin’s accusations and said she was “grateful to everyone.”

“I still have these feelings of self-loathing, guilt, and shame,” Krome explained said. “And that goes from being manageable and unmanageable, but that’s starting to lift. It’s good to have someone listen to me and not roll their eyes at me and they’re not telling me to let it go.”

Bingenheimer, who hosted a show “Rodney on the Roq” on Los Angeles’ KROQ from 1976 to 2017, was known for breaking bands in his heyday and playing music from groups like Blondie, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Smiths, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nirvana before other stations.

The Go-Go’s performing at the Central Park Summerstage on Friday night, June 22, 2001. Getty Images

Bingehimer, who currently hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM’s Underground Garage channel, was also an early promoter for the Go-Go’s and Wiedin admits he helped her band become household names.

“I have these huge mixed emotions. The guy’s a fucking monster, but then he also helped us … the Go-Go’s got our first exposure because of Rodney,” Wiedlin says, adding that for years she took responsibility for his alleged actions. “I should have said no [the night of the alleged assault], but I didn’t. It wasn’t anything I asked for, but at the same time I wanted to be a sexy young adult or whatever. It’s very tangly in my mind. At this stage, I think, ‘Fuck that guy.’ That was wrong. Even if I had asked him to do something, which I didn’t, it wouldn’t have been right. It was illegal and immoral.”

f you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.

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