The owner of a popular Southeast Portland "goth bar" has sold the business to the manager amid anonymous allegations of sexual assault that surfaced on social media last week.

Jon Horrid opened Lovecraft Bar on Southeast Grand Street nearly seven years ago. On Monday, he stepped down and in a statement said he'd be leaving Portland as a Facebook post made the rounds alleging sexual misconduct and ties to white supremacists.

"I love my bar. I built it myself, from the ground up, with no savings. I'm not rich and I'm not a fighter but I am stubborn," Horrid wrote in a statement shared on Facebook by Lovecraft DJ and promoter Nikki Cavanaugh. "But I'm not stubborn enough to have foolish pride and jeopardize good people. So in order to protect my staff, I quit. And I am moving."

The allegations, first reported by Willamette Week, began circulating on Facebook earlier this month. Penned as an anonymous "statement written and backed by Survivors, Queers, Trans folks and/or Women and other non-men, People of Color, Workers, and those who live at the intersections of these identities," it was widely shared on the social network by self-identified Lovecraft patrons and performers.

The statement, alternately shared as a graphic and a text post, accuses Horrid of sexual assault and rape, claiming, "This has been known by many people for many, many years."

Horrid denied the allegations, saying he believed they were "lies" purported by "an angry mob of our fellow liberals."

Lovecraft staff also published a statement Monday condemning sexual assault and white supremacy.

"Rape, sexual assault, and disrespect for women in general is despicable. We as a staff never witnessed any of the acts the previous owner is being accused of," the statement read. "We do however realize that these allegations need to be thoroughly investigated. All of the bar employees here possess a commitment to social change."

Reactions to the news and Facebook statements ranged from support to condemnation.

"Wow this post is full of apologist language," one person wrote on the Lovecraft Bar page.

"Same bar, different day. Close. Now," wrote another.

"Since when do allegations and accusations = guilt? Allow the man due process," wrote another.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com