For weeks we have been subjected to nuggets of Moby’s personal life via unsolicited excerpts from his creepy-ass second memoir, Then It Falls Apart. One story involved Natalie Portman, who he claimed to have dated when she was 20 years old. Portman countered his claim with a few clarifications, most important among them that she was not 20 and that they were not romantically involved. In fact, she was 18, and the musician, to her, was just “a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school.” This led to Moby attempting to corroborate his story with a since-deleted, not-at-all-unsettling Instagram post of him standing shirtless next to a young, visibly uncomfortable Portman. The world watched, cringed, and quietly begged him to just stop.
Since their exchange, Moby appears to see the error of his ways and, per BBC, has cancelled the U.K. leg of his book tour as well as all public appearances “for the foreseeable future.” In a note posted on his website he offers refunds and signed book plates for those who have already purchased tickets. In addition, he posted an apology to his Instagram page, claiming responsibility for both the contents of the book and the resulting backlash. “I am the one who released the book without showing it to the people I wrote about. I’m the one who posted defensively and arrogantly,” he wrote. “I’m the one who behaved inconsiderately and disrespectfully, both in 2019 and in 1999. There is obviously no one else to blame but me.”
Hopefully Moby will use his time away to reflect on some key things and learn to interact with those around him more respectfully. Maybe this will also serve as a lesson to any future authors who are considering writing the next salacious tell-all: Before you do tell it all, maybe read the room first.