Former Portland Musician Adam Forkner Accused of Domestic Assault, LA Weekly Reports

Ex-girlfriend alleges the artist best known as White Rainbow beat her multiple times.

Adam Forkner, at one time a prominent member of the Portland music scene, has been accused of assault by his ex-girlfriend, L.A. Weekly reports.

In a Facebook post published March 15, Christine Messersmith alleges the electronic musician, who now lives in L.A., beat her "repeatedly" over the course of their seven-month relationship, and included photos of herself with two black eyes and bruises on her legs.

"The attack lasted for 15 minutes; cornering me and smashing my face and body into objects and the floor, running from him from room to room until I was forced into my closet and called the police," she wrote of the most recent incident. "When I asked him how he could do this to me, he later said he went into a black out rage; he simply could not recall much of it, indicating a deep and troubling psychosis."

Forkner took part in a variety of musical projects in Portland during the early and mid-2000s, including two acts which were voted onto Willamette Week's Best New Band list, White Rainbow and Purple and Green. He contributed to the first Dirty Projectors album, and played in the live iteration of Atlas Sound with Deerhunter's Bradford Cox. He moved to Los Angeles a few years ago.

Messermith writes that she has pressed charges against Forkner, and also notes that she knows of two other women Forkner has allegedly abused.

Following Messersmith's post, the L.A. electronic label Leaving Records removed Forkner's latest White Rainbow release from its catalog. He was also cut from the bill for a Wednesday show at a club in Silver Lake, and has been dropped by online radio station Dublab, where he hosted a monthly show.

Forkner did not respond to Willamette Week's request for comment.

Messersmith's full Facebook post—which has been shared over 400 times—is below:

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