You may not know the name John Finberg but you are likely aware of many of the bands he's worked with over the years. Finberg has been a booking agent for acts like Nightwish, Epica, Amorphis, Warbringer, Suffocation, Immolation, Sonata Arctica, Overkill, and The Agonist. MetalSucks has just published a thorough exposé, where multiple women accuse him of sexual harassment, attempts to intoxicate them, and bullying. Additionally, multiple artists and backstage professionals went public with various shady business practices.
Here are some of the key points of the article:
– A woman named "Rachel" said Finberg friended her on Facebook, invited her to a concert with promises of discussing how her band could open the next local gig. When she arrived, Finberg gave her the royal treatment all night, but kept pouring her shots and started trying to get aggressive and feel her up, acting like she owed him this and that she was asking for it. When she got away, it led to him harassing her via email, threatening to blacklist her if she didn't respond properly to his sexual advances. He would still text her occasionally and attempt to make amends, only to blow up at her again.
– Another woman who works in the music industry, identified as Jennifer, only met him once when one of Finberg's acts were performing a large gig. She met him in the VIP area, and she said that she only remembers drinking half a glass of vodka, before blacking out. She ended up unresponsive and vomiting on the ground, and her brother happened to be there and took her to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, and claims she was later told that Finberg was constantly refilling her glass and then pouring vodka down her throat straight from the bottle.
– A third woman, Amy, claimed Finberg immediately said something about sleeping with her as soon as he met her at a Ministry show. She politely rejected him but claims he threw a tantrum at the end of the night because she wouldn't go back to the hotel with him. She claims he attempted to keep buying her drinks, which she rejected. She claims he then told her if she had sex with him, he would take her on tour with Nightwish and she could work their merch and not pay for anything. She decided to leave, and then claims Finberg incessantly texted her for weeks. Finberg found out where she worked and tried to call and let them know that Amy was a terrible person. They did not believe him.
– One artist claims Finberg told him if he could find a woman in the crowd who would give Finberg fellatio, Finberg would get the band a big tour.
– One artist manager accuses Finberg of threatening frivolous lawsuits after being fired, even going so far as having his lawyer draft up charges, but never actually going through on the lawsuit.
– Finberg is accused of double-dipping for his fees for artists by selling VIP packages directly, and then including those sales in the overall tickets sold, and taking a second 20% promoter fee on top of it.
– Finberg is accused of selling Canadian fans tickets at larger, US prices and then pocketing the difference, which is as much as 25% higher than the ticket price if the fan were to purchase it at the door.
– Artist manager Shawn Carrano refuses to work with artists booked by Finberg, going on the record saying that Finberg has threatened his life multiple times over small disputes, threatening to "slit" Carrano's throat.
– Continental Touring’s Steph Mellul claims he's personally been called racist slurs by Finberg, and that Finberg freely dropped the N-bomb, especially while working with death metal legends, Suffocation, who had two Black members at the time, and in general making racist comments about any minority he would come across.
– Bonded by Blood when vocalist Mauro Gonzalez claims Finberg asked him to introduce Finberg to two women who Gonzalez was friends with. When Gonzales declined, Finberg threatened to ruin their career, and blacklist them.
These aren't even ALL the accusations in this very thorough piece. For the full story, visit MetalSucks.
