Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is denying an allegation that he raped a 17-year-old fan in 2001, as ABC pulls a scheduled Christmas particular that includes the band.
An legal professional for the singer decried the accusation through Shannon “Shay” Ruth, now 39, as “legally meritless,” Web page Six reported Thursday.
“This declare about an incident that supposedly came about greater than two decades in the past is … fully unfaithful,” Michael Holtz advised the opening in a observation. “Sadly, for a number of years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick.”
At a press convention Thursday, Ruth mentioned that the singer, now 42, raped her when he was once in his early 20s, in step with Selection. Ruth mentioned Carter pressured himself on her and that she “begged him to forestall.”
“Although I’m autistic and are living with cerebral palsy, I imagine that not anything has affected me extra or had a extra lasting have an effect on on my existence than what Nick Carter did and mentioned to me,” Ruth mentioned on the information convention. She alleged that the singer additionally referred to her with derogatory language and bruised her arm.
A consultant for Carter didn’t right away reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
Holtz advised Web page Six that Ruth’s allegations “have modified many times and materially through the years” and that her press convention was once “orchestrated through an opportunistic attorney.” He additionally mentioned “the courts will temporarily notice” that “there’s not anything to this declare in any respect.”
Vivien Killilea by means of Getty Pictures
Ruth’s allegation was once accompanied through a lawsuit she filed along 3 nameless ladies who in a similar fashion accused Carter of sexual attack.
Consistent with Web page Six, the criticism states that Carter had invited Ruth onto a excursion bus after a live performance in Tacoma, Washington, earlier than giving her a drink that she now believes to have contained alcohol.
“The closing 21 years were stuffed with ache, confusion, frustration, disgrace and self-harm which can be an instantaneous results of Nick Carter raping me,” Ruth mentioned Thursday, in step with Web page Six.
“Simply because Nick Carter is a star does now not imply that he’s excused from his crimes,” she added.
Amid the allegations, ABC has reportedly made up our minds to not air “A Very Backstreet Vacation.” The Christmas particular, in the past scheduled for Dec. 14, was once going to characteristic Carter and different band participants along visitors corresponding to Seth Rogen.
Want lend a hand? Discuss with RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Attack On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Heart’s web page.