When the initial three of us (Katerina, Rachel and Michelle) set out to make our testimonies public, we each had a strong desire for them to be easily accessible and visible to women who were involved with Kevin Olliff (aka

Kevin Johnson), Tyler Lang, or CAFT. This website is to help make that possible and to provide support for anyone who also experiences abuse from either of them. We will continue to add testimonies if and when other

women come forward, and we urge you to reach out if you need private support as well.

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So who are Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang, and what is CAFT?

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Kevin and Tyler are best friends who have been involved in the animal rights movement on and off for years. They eventually took over the activist group called Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT). They currently live in Los Angeles County, California, and have been traveling nationwide for their CAFT campaigns, often seeking out women to sleep with in the process. Enabled by Animal Activism Collective (formerly known as AAM), an organization that claims to empower activists yet chooses to ignore all the evidence of abuse, Kevin and Tyler continue to thrive within the animal rights community by using their positions within CAFT to seek women and any activists who they can prey upon, manipulate, and use for personal gain.

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In November 2022, CAFT went on to hijack another group that was

started before their times, Los Angeles Animal Defense League.

This is an LA chapter that is part of the larger grassroots group,

Animal Defense League. They claim that they started ADL in order

to more easily collaborate with other animal rights groups in LA,

likely because many CAFT members have been banned from other

animal rights organizations, and many do not want to work with

CAFT due to these testimonies.​

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Restorative justice and accountability is what we have sought from

Kevin and Tyler, but instead of taking any accountability for the

harms that they have caused, they have sought revenge through

retaliation over and over again. Tyler and Kevin are no longer

welcome to attend the events organized by numerous animal rights organizations, including Direct Action

Everywhere (DxE), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Animal Alliance Network, Plant Based Treaty, Last Chance for Animals, and LA Animal Save, until they take the necessary steps towards accountability.

Unrelated to activism, Kevin and Tyler are also permanently banned from the dating site OkCupid after being notified of their predatory behaviors.

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We urge you to read each of the six women’s testimonies, and share them with anyone who comes into contact with Kevin and Tyler. We cannot keep our communities safe while allowing serial abusers who refuse to take accountability to be in them. This isn’t about “cancel culture.” Calling it that only minimizes the damages that these men have caused, and it diverts the blame onto survivors for the consequences these men face for their own actions.

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Tyler and Kevin are the only two people to blame for what they did, and only they have the power to take full accountability for it. We welcome that path if they ever choose to take it.

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The following are what we would like to see from Tyler Lang and Kevin Olliff. This does not mean that if they were to do these things, all harm would be forgiven or erased. Rather, these are some first steps to opening a door for healing to start happening and for prevention to be possible.

 

If you know Kevin or Tyler or if you do activism with them, please try to hold them accountable for the following:

Kevin

• Publicly admit to the abuse and accept responsibility for the harm he has caused. After years of gaslighting his victims and spreading rumors to discredit anyone who dares to come forward, this is the bare minimum Kevin could do to begin the process of making amends.

• Quit drinking, especially around women and other activists. Alcohol doesn’t “make” Kevin abusive - but his drinking is a recurring theme in all of the recent testimonies, and he consistently displays aggressive behavior while drunk. Even if he takes steps to address his other issues, he likely will continue to abuse the women around him if he is unable or unwilling to get his drinking under control.

• Take any necessary steps to treat mental health issues.

• Enroll in an anger management course.

• Refrain from staying with women while traveling. For too long, Kevin has used his position to gain access to female activists around the country under the guise of needing a place to stay. 

 

Tyler

• Publicly admit to sexual misconduct and his role in enabling Kevin’s abuse. This should also include a public condemnation of any attempts by his supporters to undermine and silence survivors. Even if his friends deny our experiences, retaliating against those who come forward only discourages other survivors from speaking out and allows abuse to proliferate within the animal rights community.

• Implement a zero tolerance policy for sexual misconduct and abuse within CAFT. Guidelines need to be developed with the input of women outside Tyler’s social circle, and should safeguard against potential coverups and abuses of power (e.g. by enlisting a neutral third party to investigate allegations of misconduct).

• Take any necessary steps to treat mental health issues.

• CAFT should have full transparency in disclosing leadership and their own involvement in CAFT.

• Ban alcohol and drugs at CAFT social events. Tyler has repeatedly shown that he can’t control his or his friends’ behavior while drinking. If he wants to cultivate a safe environment for women and survivors, he can start by making all CAFT events alcohol and drug-free.

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Additions after the initial statements made by Katerina, Michelle D, and Jane Doe:

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• A public apology with a statement recognizing the damage that his response, as well as others, has caused to the MeToo movement and to other survivors feeling comfortable to come forward.

• Take a minimum of 6 weeks of consent classes and provide an understanding of the difference between perceived consent and informed and enthusiastic consent, as well and an understanding that people can change their mind on what they initially thought was consensual after receiving new information or processing what happened. In addition, Tyler is to provide a genuine understanding that once one person feels that it wasn’t consensual, it wasn’t, and he doesn’t get to decide that it was.

• Committing and providing proof of reaching out to everyone on Michelle and Katerina’s friends list who he contacted with his initial response statement and providing an explanation as to why that was wrong and harmful.

 

It’s easy to dismiss abuse as being a “personal issue” between two people, but we must remember that violence is a community problem that requires community-based solutions. We can’t trust abusive people to hold themselves accountable - protecting women and other vulnerable people is a responsibility that we all share.

 

The following suggestions are steps we can all take to address and prevent violence in our movement:
 

• Learn to identify common signs of abuse. This information is widely available online. Please see our Resources page if you don’t know where to start.

• Don’t ignore aggressive, controlling, or otherwise concerning behavior. If you are unable to directly intervene (i.e. for safety reasons), you can check in with the victim privately, initiate discussion with the abusive person after they’ve calmed down, or report misconduct to event organizers.

• Make sure everyone gets home safely after an event, especially if folks have been drinking. Check in with everyone to make sure they have a ride home and/or a safe place to stay.

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Remember that supporting victims means holding their abusers accountable. We sincerely appreciate every supportive message we’ve received since sharing our testimonies, but we hope you also confront Kevin and Tyler about their behavior. People are counting on your silence so please speak up on behalf of any potential victims. These conversations might be uncomfortable in the moment, but these are necessary growing pains to keep our community safe.

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