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Luke Phillips, the manager for Portland musician Mo Troper, announced today that he was dropping Troper as a client following allegations of abuse from Troper’s former romantic partner, Maya Stoner. Since Friday, Stoner, who leads the band Floating Room, has shared several messages on her social media accounts accusing Troper of physical and psychological abuse. “i’m saying mo troper is a straight up sick in the head violent and depraved person,” she wrote in one post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Troper has since wiped his social accounts. Stereogum has reached out to Troper’s representative seeking a statement from Troper.
UPDATE: Lame-O Records, the Philadelphia record label that has released Troper’s past two albums, also announced that it will no longer release his album Svengali, which was scheduled to come out in May. The label’s official account posted the following message on X: “In light of recent information, we will no longer be releasing Mo Troper’s album Svengali. Refunds will be available at point of purchase. We are sending healing thoughts to Maya and victims of abuse everywhere.” Troper’s publicity team at Grandstand also confirmed to Stereogum that they are no longer representing Troper; he is no longer listed as a client on the company’s website.
Stoner’s allegations came in response to Troper’s press materials for Svengali. “he can say it himself,” she wrote, along with a screenshot of this excerpt from the album’s accompanying bio:
Before “Svengali” came to describe any vaguely megalomaniacal personality in the entertainment industry – from the genuinely evil Phil Spector and Colonel Tom Parker all the way to their Diet Rite equivalent Jack Antonoff – he was a literary character who was probably the prototypical megalomaniacal personality in the entertainment industry. The antagonist in the famously mid and otherwise unmemorable 19th century novel Trilby, Svengali is depicted as a machiavellian manipulator who transforms the guileless titular character into a famous singer. Mo Troper’s Svengali is a deeply psychological record with the throbbing heart of a fragile giant. It is a meditation on evil-ness. At certain points across Svengali’s 13 tracks, Troper relishes his own innate evil-ness; just as often he’s repulsed by it.
Following that excerpt, Stoner added, “he loves being evil and he was evil to me.” She also highlighted this part of the bio:
For your consideration… A village idiot whose idea of love, both romantic and fraternal, looks a lot more like ownership than appreciation. Tonight… A toxic relationship where you can’t quite tell if you’re the manipulated or the manipulator. Imagine if you will… A crush so potent it chews you up and swallows you whole.
In response to that excerpt, Stoner wrote, “he’s bragging about being an abuser in the album description. it wasn’t a ‘toxic’ relationship it was abusive.” In an Instagram story, Stoner referred to Troper as a “serial abuser.”
In a video message posted to X Friday night, which she later clarified was about Troper, Stoner wrote, “This man abused me. I’m still fucking healing from it, and he’s just bragging about it. And he can brag about it because I’m just an autistic sex worker indigenous brown person, and he’s a popular white guy. Rich white guy.” In another video clip, she continued, “I didn’t want to participate in call-out culture, but if he’s going to fucking brag about it, well, he’s the one that is fucking bringing it up.”
In response to Stoner’s allegations, Phillips, Troper’s manager, announced today that he will no longer manage Troper. He shared the following message in a thread of messages on X:
My apologies for not immediately responding to these messages, it was important to me that I had a moment to consider everything within Maya’s statements, as not only do I manage Mo but I consider us extremely close.
I’ve made the decision to step away from being Mo’s manager. Mo and Maya are both people I consider friends—I was briefly managing Floating Room and was even asked to officiate their wedding—and to read these tweets / see these videos has been overwhelming.
Everything I knew about their relationship was from afar and. in light of all this, I don’t think I can go on working with Mo, and will give him space to make his own statements.
I believe Maya. I hope everyone involved can take the steps to heal and grow from this, and I hope that those blindsided by these allegations like I was can find space to support eachother through whatever they need going forward
If you or someone you know is undergoing physical abuse, please visit www.thehotline.org or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.