Chrissie Hynde blows up at NPR interview: "Just don't buy the f*cking book, then, if I've offended someone. Don't listen to my records"

The former Pretenders frontwoman lost her temper at the "lynch mob" response to her comments on sexual assault

Published October 6, 2015 8:25PM (EDT)

  (AP/Joel Ryan)
(AP/Joel Ryan)

An interview between ex-Pretenders front-woman Chrissie Hynde and NPR interviewer David Greene went off the rails this morning when Greene asked Hynde about a controversial segment in her new memoir "Reckless: My Life as a Pretender” in which she takes responsibility for being sexually assaulted at the age of 21.

After reading aloud Hynde's account of her violent altercation with a biker gang, Greene brings up Hynde's much-criticized suggested that she accepts "full responsibility" for the assault. Hynde suggests that yes, she still feels this way, and that "no one dragged [her] into the park in the middle of the night with a gun at my head and forced [her] to do anything."

At this point, Greene continues to press her, and things turn ugly:

There was one comment that you made in an interview about the book, in the Sunday Times of London: "If I'm walking around in my underwear and I'm drunk, who else's fault can it be?"

So what are you getting at? Why are you asking me this?

I just think a lot of people —

I don't understand why there's — You know what, I don't care what a lot of people want. You know? I'd rather say, just don't buy the f****** book, then, if I've offended someone. Don't listen to my records. Cause I'm only telling you my story, I'm not here trying to advise anyone or tell anyone what to do or tell anyone what to think, and I'm not here as a spokesperson for anyone. I'm just telling my story. So the fact that I've been — you know, it's almost like a lynch mob.

Hear the full interview over at NPR.

Chrissie Hynde's Rich and Ragged Memoir


By Anna Silman

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Aol_on Chrissie Hynde Npr The Pretenders