in april 2016, bronx political activist ronald savage accused bambaataa of molesting him in 1980, when savage was 15. following savage's allegations, three more men accused bambaataa of sexual abuse. bambaataa issued a statement to "rolling stone" denying the allegations. in early may 2016, the universal zulu nation disassociated themselves from bambaataa as part of an organizational restructuring that saw the group removing "all accused parties and those accused of covering up the current allegations of child molestation" from their current roles in the organization.