According to a KEXP article published last September, he said he removed about 20 bands from the label after these allegations, citing Burger’s “zero-tolerance policy.” “Borman hired a woman, Jessa Zapor-Gray, in hopes of changing the label for the better; Zapor-Gray soon decided to resign. The label’s first announcement, when it was to become the voiceless BRGR, read: “The Burger Records store, which is not part of Burger Records, will no longer be affiliated with the label and will change its name. “‘ But that was before Looney Tunes was deregulated. In July 2020, when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against members of more than a dozen Burger Records bands, the store was named as the site of some of the alleged sexual assaults. Within four days of allegations of sexual misconduct involving Burger musicians surfacing last year, the label broke up. Borman founded the Burger label in 2007 with his high school friend Lee Rickard, when Borman was 25 and Rickard was 23. They started the label in part to release music by their band, Thee Makeout Party. The Burger Records space near Cal State Fullerton, near Disneyland, housed a constellation of businesses, including a store, the label’s headquarters, a performance venue, an apartment and a garage-punk label. Borman’s reaction to the allegations against the Burger label bands was complicated. According to an online data search in Orange County, Sean Borman registered the trade name White Rabbit Records through a Sept. 30, 2020 filing. Burger released records on vinyl, CD and digital platforms, but the label was virtually synonymous with cassettes released in runs of a few hundred to a few thousand. Days after the allegations came to light, Burger announced that he would at least close his label. The Boogaloo Burger festival in Oakland is expected to return under the name Mosswood Meltdown after promoter Total Trash Productions publicly parted ways with Burger last year. Borman opened the burger joint with another partner in 2009. Lee Rickard originally announced his departure as part of a planned reorganization that included rebranding BRGR. In a September 2020 interview, Borman told KEXP reporter Emily Fox that he worked 16 hours a day and had to wash his hair under the tap because t were no showers.
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