SCORPIONS DRUMMER JAMES KOTTAK ADMITS TO BEING AN ALCOHOLIC, SEEKS TREATMENT
Scorpions drummer James Kottak has released the following statement regarding his arrest and jail sentence in Dubai this past April.
“After years of drinking alcohol, on April 3rd, 2014 my addiction finally caught up with me,” states Scorpions drummer James Kottak. “During a 5-hour flight from Ekaterinburg, Russia to Bahrain via Dubai, during which I consumed 5 or 6 glasses of wine. While at the airport in Dubai I approached an airline representative to check on status of my flight. The representative informed me that I was in the wrong place and I replied ‘WTF?!.’ The representative then called the police and reported that I was intoxicated (which I was) and that I made a lewd jester.”
One of the police officers recognized me as drummer of ‘The Scorpions’. When the police asked me to show my ID., I showed them the ‘Rock & Roll Forever’ tattoo on my back, instead of my actual ID, which was in my back pack my friend was carrying for me. Apparently, the police did not find this funny and I was charged with ‘Drinking Without a License’, for which I pleaded guilty and received a one-month sentence and a 2,000 Dirham (300 USD) fine. I was also charged with insulting Islam/Muslims by making a lewd jester for which I pleaded not guilty and did not actually do.
Upon returning to the United States on May 6th, I immediately reached out to Bob Forrest, an addiction specialist known for his work with musicians and Celebrity Rehab. I have been meeting with Bob on a regular basis. He has guided me to the MusiCares Organization, which provides musicians with help for mental health and addiction issues.
I am determined to come to grips with my alcoholism and am doing everything on a daily basis to beat this relentless disease. This entire incident caused me to realize that it is time to stop drinking once and for all so that I can become the father, musician, and friend that I know I can be.
I am glad to put this unfortunate incident behind me and move onward and upward with my life. I would like to send out a HUGE thank-you to my family, friends and fans around the world for their incredible loving support… you kick ass! I would also like to send a sincere apology from the bottom of my heart to everyone I have affected and look forward to seeing you all!!
With love, James Kottak – Tomorrow is a brand new day!”
In May, the Scorpions released their own statement part of which said “Whatever happened is totally out of our control and we don’t know any details about it at this point. Please understand, we will keep you posted.”
additional source: bravewords.com
I’m curious as to what material James used to make a Lewd Jester…jingle balls placed in the wrong place, perhaps…?
Again when you are in a different country you respect the countries laws And abide by them…period. Obviously they are very strict over there and they have that right to rule that land how they wish. Yes here we have more freedoms, etc but we are just another country (great one ) out of the rest so who are we to criticize.
Now on another note : Go Kings Go! Beat those stinky Rangers!
To Richman,
I don’t see how “wife beating” and “killing someone” can be mentioned on the same level as being drunk at an airport, but maybe that’s just me. A few glasses of wine is hardly worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as an “overdose”. My reference to Moon and Bonzo was simply to point that I think they would consider 30 days in jail as being rediculous for what James from the Scorpions did And by the way, who is Jimmy Hendrick? We’ve all heard of Jimi Hendrix. You need to take care before calling anyone else “stupid”.
The Hendrix thing was spell check. Oh well. What’s REDICULOUS? You are a phony patriot who never served in the military. You want to denegrate a Muslim culture ’cause it makes you feel like a man. What do you know about “real criminals?” Are you a cop? The guy was messed up, he didn’t have a few anything. Move along little boy, actual men are posting.
While we all should get on our knees everyday and thank the Lord above that we live in the great county that we do and enjoy the freedoms that we have, we need to remember that it is not the same everywhere and that other cultures need to be respected and appreciated in the same manner that we want our country respected and appreciated. Dubai has many fantastic attributes as a country overall. Alcohol consumption however is something you need to be careful about over there. If the Scorps management team knew they had an alcoholic on their hands, someone should have been babysitting him the whole time he was there. One more thing, lets remember that we have people in this country who serve less jail time than this drummer did for Vehicular Manslaughter/DUI – which is an extremely sad commentary on us socially. We are far from a perfect country and have just as many issues as other countries do. We rape, murder, kidnap, steel, cheat, are racist,eat too much, drink too much, and are viewed by many countries as the problem in the world. Doesn’t make us a bad group of people as a whole. But sometimes I think we’re a little blinded by the ‘Merica in us and can’t realize that we have work to do as a country as well. If you don’t like the laws or cultures in a certain country – don’t go to those countries.
James is a blazing drunk, and probably deserved to be fined. But he should have known what would happen if he pushed his luck. This milkmoney puke must stand in front of the mirror everyday telling himself, that he needs to straighten all of us misguided people out. Well milkmoney, go tell mommy the bad guys are saying bad words
again. Ask her to yell at us and make us all listen to you, okay? I HATE this tribute band they call KISS, love Ace and Peter. Rock on everyone, keep on keepin’ on Eddie! Up the irons metalheads \m/
Actually the first half of MILKMONEY’S rant is pretty good and MIKE M. is not very smart. It is just hard to take moral advice from a guy calling himself MILKMONEY.
What are some of you arguing about, being drunk at an airport in another is dumb. I guess when someone in a rock band does something bad it goes public. If its gangster rap and hip hopthey do something bad there looked at as heroes and young ones idolize that. My thought that’s what is popular nowadays.
This is not a race issue either. It is not about rappers vs. Metalheads. If this guy has problems and he gets help then his arrest is a good thing. If he himself is acknowledging his issues then why are people minimzing his crime. He may live 25 years longer ’cause of those “horrible Muslims”. Check out LONE SURVIVOR and your opinion of “those people” may change.