Pete Townshend, the guitarist from 60s legends, The Who, has admitted paying to enter an internet site advertising child pornography, but he did so "purely to see what was there".
The admission came in a statement following claims that British police are investigating internet child porn allegations.
The statement emphasised his "anger and vengeance towards the mentally ill people who find paedophilic pornography attractive."
It was distributed to media representatives gathered outside his home in Richmond, south west London.
It said: "I am not a paedophile. I have never entered chat rooms on the internet to converse with children. I have, to the contrary, been shocked, angry and vocal (especially on my website) about the explosion of advertised paedophilic images on the internet."
Townshend's statement concluded: "On one occasion I used a credit card to enter a site advertising child porn. I did this purely to see what was there. I spoke informally to a friend who was a lawyer and reported what I'd seen.
"I am sincerely disturbed by the sexual abuse of children, and I am very active trying to help individuals who have suffered, and to prevent further abuse."
Earlier, Townshend discussed rumours saying he was the rock star reported to be at the centre of a police inquiry into claims of the downloading of child pornography from the internet.
The Daily Mailreported that details of a musician, a household name on both sides of the Atlantic, had been passed to detectives dealing with an American pay per view porn ring.
PA