Rachel's Story
The following are my own experiences with Kevin Olliff (aka Kevin Johnson), a
person I dated, became close friends with, and co-organized protests with last
year. He and his best friend, Tyler Lang, went to prison for releasing mink from
fur farms years ago, and they have recently started a new animal rights group
called the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT).
I am one of three women coming forward with our experiences of sexual
misconduct, coercion, abuse, and/or emotional manipulation by Kevin Olliff,
with Tyler Lang loyally by his side, defending his actions and at times partaking
in it, despite the "good guy" image that he portrays to the public.
It should be noted that we are not the only women who have experienced abuse
from Kevin, and that he has had the help of his lawyer parents to silence women who have tried to come forward. It should also be noted that Kevin is no longer
welcome to attend or participate in several animal rights groups, including Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) and People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Tyler is also not welcome at DxE events.
This is not a post that I ever wanted to write. But calling Kevin in quietly didn’t work, and in the failure of that process, I
watched as another woman (Michelle), fell victim to very similar abuse. And when I look at the growing list of women who
Kevin has left in his path of destruction, I feel that it is my moral obligation to let other women know what he is capable of,
and to be able reach out to other survivors for support if they need it.
History:
Kevin and I dated from June-end of July, 2020. He would drive up to the Bay to visit me for a few days, and I would fly to LA. During that time, I received a report about certain details that Katerina shared with DxE about experiences of abuse with him from a relationship that was 9 years ago. I decided to proceed with a lot of caution, because I believed that people could change. I also kept hearing versions of the story from Kevin that painted Katerina as "mutually toxic" and that the physical abuse was an "accident." I was skeptical, but didn't know if Katerina wanted to be reached out to with my questions.
Due to the long distance and emotional unavailability, Kevin decided to break things off after two months.
The breakup was amicable.
After two months of not talking, we began communicating again on Sept. 26, after he messaged me to ask if I was coming to the DxE LA vigil. Kevin and Tyler both came to hang out while I was there. Kevin and I began trying to be friends after that, with him insisting that he wanted me in his life again. We began helping each other with organizing protests for CAFT in the Bay Area and planning trips to hang out together in LA (where he lives). One of those trips was the week of Thanksgiving 2020, where I spent a week in LA at Kevin’s house. This is when most of the following types of abuse occurred:
Violations of consent:
On November 26, 2020, I was at a small Thanksgiving gathering that Kevin organized at his (now current girlfriend's) house. Late into the night, after hours of dancing, drinking, eating, etc, everyone left the house except for me, Tyler and Kevin (as well as two other activists who went upstairs to sleep). Kevin then began pressuring me into having a threesome with him and his best friend, Tyler Lang, while we were all heavily intoxicated. He relentlessly and belligerently yelled for Tyler to take off his pants so that I could, “Suck his d*ck” without asking or getting my clear consent, and in fact after I was repeatedly telling him to stop. Kevin was yelling this for what was probably 40 or more minutes, while saying things like, “Look at this hot girl! Doesn’t she have a nice ass? Don’t you want to stick your d*ck in her??” I remember laughing out of awkwardness, feeling very confused and objectified by Kevin, and not thinking that anything sexual would actually happen that night.
While Kevin was yelling for Tyler and I to have sex, I kept repeating, “Tyler has a girlfriend, I’m not going to do that to her. I respect her.” After a while of me saying this, Tyler eventually said that he and his girlfriend “had an agreement” where they could sleep with other people if it was a one-time thing. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was never an agreement that they had. Tyler was lying about this in order to get my consent. Tyler then continuously encouraged me to keep drinking, knowing that this would be more likely to lead me to saying yes.
It first began by Tyler and I awkwardly kissing on the floor of the kitchen. Kevin began "cheering" at this "victory" and persisting that we keep going. I remember feeling a sense of being "put on display" for his amusement, and being reminded of frat house party scenes in movies.
Tyler was the first to take off an article of clothing, before they both pressured me to take mine off as well, saying, "Okay Rachel, your turn!" It eventually led to us moving from the kitchen to one of the bedrooms, where the “threesome” happened, which I was barely conscious for. I was so drunk that the next day I had to ask Tyler if there was penetration, because I couldn’t remember. He assured me that there was, along with other details that I couldn’t remember.
Kevin apologized the next day in a drunk text, but admitted that even though his behavior was “wrong and terrible,” that he just “couldn’t help himself” because he was so attracted to me and that knowing himself, he would “probably try to do it again tonight.” He also continued to use similarly poor judgement the rest of the week, such as grabbing me in bed and initiating sex, despite us agreeing on being platonic friends, and regularly driving while intoxicated.
The most troubling part of all of this for me, was the fact that these were two men who I really trusted, and who used that trust as an opportunity to take advantage of me.
Manipulation/Lying:
I filed a report against Kevin with DxE in December about the patterns of abuse that I experienced. When Michelle started dating Kevin, she was told by a member of DxE’s report team about it. Kevin lied to her about everything that happened, including saying that I was the one who was pressuring him into the "threesome" and made himself out to be the victim. He claimed that he “didn’t even take part in it,” which is a blatant lie.
After that week in LA, Kevin and I drove up to the Bay Area, where he stayed with me for a few nights. To my surprise, he abrubtly left my house to go on a first date with Michelle, but what he told me was that he was going to a [male activist's house] to do some remote work for his job. After I found out, he admitted that he was deceptive about it.
When he was on this date with Michelle, he insisted on telling her that him and I were just friends and that nothing sexual was going on. What he left out to her:
The week that I just stayed with him in LA.
That he initiated sex with me multiple times that week.
That I slept in his bed that the whole time.
The "threesome."
Physical Aggression/Sexual Violence:
There were also several instances during sex with Kevin when I clearly expressed pain when he was grabbing and squeezing me too hard, and being way too aggressive with my body. He would stop, apologize, but then continue to do it again and I would have to say it again to him that it hurt. He was often too intoxicated to comprehend my lack of consent.
There was an instance where we were non-sexually hanging out on his bed (he was also incoherently drunk), and I was being playful with him. He suddenly grabbed me really tightly by my hair (so hard that I was frantically prying at his clasped hand, trying to loosen his grip) and then he yanked my head onto the pillow beside him, eventually letting go. I remember expressing pain but he seemed too intoxicated to be aware of what he did or what effect it just had on me.
Retaliation:
When I filed the report against Kevin, and both his and Tyler’s response was to deny what had happened, accuse me of making the report as an “act of revenge,” and contemplate getting other women involved to “testify on their behalf.” Kevin has taken zero accountability for his actions, and Tyler has not only defended him, but mocked me in front of others. He's also pressured people to report my photos on Instagram as an act of retaliation to my report on Kevin.
. . .
I fully expect for Kevin and Tyler to continue to deny what happened and to deny how I came to feel about it.
I expect for Kevin and Tyler to make me out to be a “crazy and obsessed ex,” as they did about Katerina to me, and about me with Michelle. I expect them to try to show “proof” as to why they believe this was an act of revenge, based on their own interpretations. I expect to be mocked by both of them about how short of a period of time I dated Kevin, as they both did in front of Michelle, as if the length of time we dated has any relevance at all. I expect legal retaliation, as Kevin has threatened to do with Katerina when she first came forward years ago. I expect them to use my immediate reaction of being “fine” with what happened as a way to prove that I’m now “lying.” I expect them to dig in their heels, and to claim to be the “real victims.”
But what I say to that is this:
This is my story. This is my truth.
It’s not up for debate.
My feelings are not theirs to decide whether they are real or not, and they do not own my experiences. Their denial that these events happened to me, Katerina, Michelle and to other women, fits their pattern of abuse, manipulation, and victim-blaming of those they have harmed.
It also doesn’t matter if I knew Kevin for 5 years or 5 minutes. Abuse can happen in a matter of seconds, at a bar, in an alleyway, at work, anywhere. How long you know someone has no relevance to the experience of abuse. And oftentimes, people’s immediate reaction to these situations is not one of full clarity and understanding of what just happened. It can take months, or it can take years to come to terms with abuse, and it doesn’t make what happened any less legitimate.
And despite their narrative that my initial report in December was an “act of revenge” to get Kevin “kicked out of DxE,” the actual facts are this: DxE made that decision based on Katerina’s report from 2019. I was reached out to after the decision was made, to see if I had similar experiences with Kevin that I would like to add, as someone who was recently involved with him. It was only then, after a lot of thought, that I decided to make that report, because when I was being honest with myself instead of laughing it off, there were things that I experienced with Kevin that displayed the same abusive patterns from Katerina's report of their relationship.
I share this testimony, knowing the backlash that I’ll face, because the world isn’t yet ready to unpack its own hatred and trivialization of women’s experiences of sexual assault. I don’t expect for every person reading this to believe me. But that isn’t my goal. My goal is to protect women from future abuse from these two men. I need women to know that this wasn’t just one isolated incident that happened 9 years ago that was a “misunderstanding,” like Kevin tried to convince me about Katerina. I need women to know that this happened not only 9 years ago, but also during the years that followed, and is still happening to this day.
It took months for me to come to a place where I could overcome my own feelings of guilt, shame and fear in order to share these experiences publicly. This isn't as easy decision for anyone to make, but I am tired of letting my own internalized misogyny and fears stop me from doing what I know is the right thing to do here. It’s one thing to dismiss and minimize my own experiences, but I will not do that to other women.
What I want out of this is to ensure that other women won’t have to experience the abuse and manipulation that I and many others have with these men, and that can’t be done unless these testimonies are easily and publicly accessible.
My ask isn’t to “cancel” Kevin or Tyler.
My ask to those who know them is to share our testimonies with the women in Kevin and Tyler's lives so that they are fully informed. My ask to the animal rights community is to check in with women to make sure that the movement isn't being co-opted to exploit women.
And my ask to our society is to listen when women give endless examples of the systemic and patriarchal objectification of women.
To hear women. To believe women. And to respect women.
