Saul Adamczewski Dropped by Label and Tour Cancelled After Abuse Allegations
Saul Adamczewski, guitarist and founding member of Fat White Family and later of Insecure Men, has been dropped by his record label and had tour dates cancelled after two women publicly shared detailed allegations of physical and emotional abuse against him. The allegations appeared on social media in late August 2026 and were then reported by The Quietus on August 24 and The Guardian on August 26 (The Quietus; The Guardian).
One woman alleged that Adamczewski made it his mission to make her suffer. She described a pattern of violence that included pushing her, throwing glass bottles at her, pouring beer over her, insulting her, taking her passport, and stealing her money while she was caring for their baby. She also said Adamczewski used her as a reason to get more money for drugs, while she had no money to feed herself and resorted to stealing. She said that in her third month of pregnancy she moved to be with her family and away from Adamczewski, and shared screenshots that appeared to show abusive messages from him.
A second woman described multiple incidents of physical violence. Among her allegations, she said Adamczewski folded her inside a sofa bed and held her inside it.
Musician Jessica Winter commented on the first woman's post, saying she had witnessed Adamczewski's physical and emotional abuse of two women and other men. Winter also claimed that Adamczewski had threatened and abused her in an attempt to silence her.
The institutional fallout was swift. Fat Possum, the US indie label that signed Insecure Men, dropped the band and removed them from its online roster, stating it took the accusations very seriously and would no longer work with Insecure Men. The band's management and UK publicist severed ties. The Instagram profile for Insecure Men was removed. When The Guardian contacted representatives for Adamczewski for comment, the departures were already underway. On the live circuit, Insecure Men's set at the Green Man festival did not go ahead, nor did a planned Manchester date. A Rough Trade Liverpool date and the band's November UK tour were also cancelled, with no official reason shared.
Adamczewski's career spans nearly two decades of the UK indie underground. He co-founded the Metros in 2006, achieving minor success during the indie sleaze era, including a song placed on the soundtrack of the US teen television series Gossip Girl. In 2011 he co-founded Fat White Family, the South London band whose chaotic live reputation and narcotically inclined post-punk made them a critical fixture of the 2010s UK underground. Adamczewski left the band before the completion of their 2024 album "Forgiveness Is Yours," having been asked to leave due to addiction issues. He was also a member of Warmduscher from 2014 to around 2018. After departing Fat White Family, he cleaned up and formed Insecure Men with Childhood's Ben Romans-Hopcraft. The Guardian's critic Alexis Petridis named Insecure Men's self-titled 2018 album his album of the week.
The allegations against Adamczewski land in a music industry that has, since the post-2017 reckoning, developed a more formalised system for responding to abuse claims against artists. Labels and management companies now face sharper pressure to act decisively when allegations surface, and the speed with which Fat Possum, the band's management, and its publicist moved to sever ties reflects the operational norm that has taken hold across the independent and major-label sectors. The cancellation of live dates without a stated reason is itself a familiar pattern: promoters and festivals typically default to silence when contractual and legal sensitivities are in play, leaving the absence of an announcement to function as the announcement.
The broader context here is what sets this case apart: the layering of alleged violence with alleged economic coercion. The first woman's account, as reported, describes not only physical abuse but a systematic financial entrapment in which her resources were diverted to sustain Adamczewski's drug use while she was unable to feed herself. If substantiated, this combination of alleged physical violence, passport confiscation, and financial control would place the accusations within the framework of coercive control — a pattern of behaviour that uses isolation, intimidation, and financial manipulation to dominate a partner, and one that carries specific legal weight under UK domestic abuse legislation. Jessica Winter's claim that Adamczewski attempted to silence her through threats introduces a further dimension, that of alleged witness intimidation. None of the allegations have been tested in court, and the verified reporting does not indicate whether criminal investigations have been initiated.
