Drummer Orri Páll Dýrason has left Sigur Rós because he says he can't allow "these serious allegations influence the band".

Artist Megan Boyd has claimed that she was raped by Orri Páll Dýrason in Los Angeles back in 2013. In a now delated online post, she wrote that he “raped me 2 times over the course of a night spent with him during his stay in Los Angeles recording an album". Orri Páll Dýrason is denying "the serious public allegations".

“I cannot have these serious allegations influence the band and the important and beautiful work that has been done there for the last years. A job that is so dear to me," Orri Páll Dýrason announced on his Facebook page.

He also stated: “This matter has undeniably taken its toll on me for the past few days. Justifiably, some will say, and I do not intend to argue with those people.

"However, I sincerely ask the same people to steer their anger into the right path and abstain from dragging my family, and especially my wife, into this matter.

"At the same time, I ask people to stay calm and not to be divided into two battling armies, these are not court proceedings, just Meagan’s words against mine, on the internet. Loud and provocative words are in nobody's favour – neither to me or her."

He concluded: "I will do anything in my power to get myself out of this nightmare, but out of respect for those actually suffering from sexual violence, I will not take that fight public."

The remaining band members said in a statement: “In the wake of the extremely serious and personal allegations made against him in recent days we have today accepted the resignation of our bandmate Orri Páll Dyrason to allow him to deal with this privately. Jónsi & Georg.”

Megan Boyd recently made her allegation on Instagram, saying that she regretted never reporting it. “I harbored this ache now for almost 6 years… for many reasons,” Boyd wrote.

“I felt no one would believe me, I felt I had been irresponsible for trusting him just because he was in a band I loved and I respected him as an artist. I was drunk, and I had met him at a club.”

Recounting her story, Boyd claimed that they two of them went back to his place and they kissed before she then fell asleep. “I also engaged in a kiss with him before falling asleep in the same bed, after that I completely knocked out,” she claimed.

“I woke up with the feeling of being penetrated without my consent during a deep slumber.. it happened twice that night, and I wondered myself why I didn’t leave after the first time – but I was drunk, dead tired, in shock … but none of that should matter because no one deserves to be raped/touched/licked/fucked without CONSENT.”

Boyd also said that previous Instagram posts about the alleged rape, which she claimed showed evidence of the incident in the form of text messages between herself and the accused, were removed from Instagram.

Boyd revealed added that she is now “looking to speak with a lawyer as well – this story is beginning to build momentum and hype and some legal advice would be appreciated.”

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, Boyd said: “I never felt comfortable coming out because I don’t really want to be known for this. I just felt like it was my duty to speak out and I found it odd when I discovered he was engaged to a feminist activist.

"It didn’t seem fair that I had this experience and he’s living out there pretending to be a feminist. At that point, I knew I had to step forward and the courage of Dr. Blasey Ford helped give me the extra push.”