Brit rocker asks female journalist if she'd 'like to go upstairs'

Herald online

11 Mar, 2016 08:00 AM2 mins to read

Miles Kane, left, and Alex Turner from The Last Shadow Puppets.

British rocker Miles Kane has apologised to a female journalist after hitting on her during an interview and asking if she'd "like to go upstairs".

Spin journalist Rachel Brodsky wrote about the incident at length in a feature story on Kane's band The Last Shadow Puppets, which also features Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner.

She said her interview with the pair took a sexist turn when Kane started making her feel uncomfortable, hitting on her several times.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Kane asked Brodsky at one point. When she said no, Kane claimed he was just joking.

Brodsky wrote that the situation was "distasteful".

"I laugh along despite feeling unnerved. It's growing clearer that I'm caught in an increasingly distasteful situation. If I wasn't on a professional assignment, I would tell him where he could go instead of 'upstairs'. But because I am working, my brain races for another superficial conversation topic without letting on that I'm upset."

Brodsky said at the end of the interview Kane gave her "a not-entirely consensual kiss on the cheek".

She used her story to call for "a lot more professionalism toward women in the music industry".

On Twitter she said she was "scared out of my skull" to write the story.

I was scared out of my skull to write it.
— Rachel Brodsky (@RachelBrods) March 8, 2016

I really, really didn't anticipate the immense kindness people have shown towards me and my piece on LSP.
— Rachel Brodsky (@RachelBrods) March 8, 2016

But now I'm just flat-out relieved. Thank you guys for being so spectacular.
— Rachel Brodsky (@RachelBrods) March 8, 2016

She says she received an apology note from Kane several days later but said it "didn't make me feel better".

"Dear Rachel," the letter read. "I really enjoyed chatting to you about the new record. I am just very sorry that silly remarks I made during our interview have caused offence. I recognise my 'Carry On' humour during the interview was ill judged and I am mortified that it made you feel uncomfortable. Please accept my sincere apologies," he wrote.

The Last Shadow Puppets are gearing up for the release of their second album, Everything You've Come to Expect, in April.