That's right harpgirl, this is a music forum, where many subjects get discussed. Pete Townsend is a hugely popular musician. Deal with it.

From BBC News today:

Sunday, 12 January, 2003, 13:15 GMT
Music figures back Townshend

Music industry figures have backed Who star Pete Townshend, after he admitted looking at child porn on the internet.
Mr Townshend said he had paid to see child pornography on the internet, but insisted he had done so for research and was emphatically not a paedophile.

DJ Paul Gambaccini said Townshend should be given credit for his frank admission - and said paedophilia was a subject that had concerned the star for many years.

But an internet watchdog said Townshend was "incredibly foolhardy, naive and misguided" to enter the website.

"You have to consider his background," Mr Gambaccini told BBC London.

"He himself says that he was abused as a child and indeed he went on the record about this in Tommy with the song Uncle Ernie...

"In other words, this is a subject which has concerned him for many, many years, and I therefore do trust him implicitly."

'Research purposes'


Music writer Rick Sky agreed, telling BBC Radio 5: "He's a very, very creative man who wears his heart on his sleeve.

"His argument is that he's been doing research on paedophilia and child pornography on the internet, and I do tend to believe him.

"He's written about this on his website and he's preparing a book about his own life which, he says, included severe child abuse as well.

"And he plays children's charities. It seems very unbelievable that he'd be involved in something like this."

Press agent Chris Hutchins, a neighbour and long-time friend of Townshend, said: "Pete is no paedophile, there's no question about that.

"Pete absolutely lives by his honesty. He's in a programme of recovery where to tell a lie could lead him back to a drink or drug problem.

"If Pete says that it was for his book, the book I know he's writing - and I know he was dealing with the painful issue of child abuse inflicted on him when he was a child - then that's true."

Mr Townshend said his web research was partly so he could act as a "vigilante" for bodies such as the Internet Watch Foundation, which aims to eliminate child porn from the net.

'Misguided and illegal'

But the IWF criticised his actions and said his explanation was no excuse.

Mark Stephens, a lawyer and IWF founder, said: "It is wrong-headed, misguided and illegal to look at or download or even to pay to download paedophiliac material and if you do so, you are likely to go to prison.

"If he was abused as a child, one feels sorry for him but it doesn't present anyone with an excuse for doing something illegal."

The star's admission came after the Daily Mail said a British musician was among those identified by a US police investigation for downloading child porn.

The Who guitarist, speaking from his home in Richmond, London, strongly denied being a paedophile and said police were aware he had studied child pornography.

The 57-year-old, who is married with children, said he was researching his possible abuse as a child for his autobiography.