Nick Carter is being sued. Image Source: THR
Nick Carter is being sued.
Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is being sued by an autistic fan named Shannon "Shay" Ruth, who alleges that the singer raped her back in 2001 when she was 17 years old.
Shannon ‘Shay’ Ruth now 39-year-old held a press conference on Thursday in which she slammed Nick Carter and alleged that he had sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old. She said during the conference that even though she is autistic and lives with cerebral palsy, she believes that nothing has affected her more than or had a more lasting impact on her life than what Nick Carter did and said to her. She claimed that the last 21 years of her life have been filled with sadness, uncertainty, unhappiness, great pity, and self-harm as a direct consequence of Nick Carter's actions.
Ruth continued that after Nick Carter raped her, she remembers him calling her a "re---ed bitch" and grabbing her and leaving bruises on her arm. She filed a lawsuit on Thursday and joining her lawsuit were three anonymous women who identified as Jane Doe claiming that Nick Carter had sexually assaulted them as well.
According to the documents filed by Shannon ‘Shay’ Ruth that had been obtained by Page Six, it states that the singer allegedly lured Ruth into his tour bus after a concert in Tacoma, Wash, and offered her a drink. Ruth stated that she asked for apple juice but was given a red drink, which she now believes was a combination of alcohol and cranberry juice. She added further that Nick Carter then took her into the bathroom on the bus and ordered her to perform oral sex on him and later took her to a bed where he sexually assaulted her again.
Shannon "Shay" Ruth claims in her documents that when she told Nick Carter that she would tell others about the alleged incident, he threatened her and called her a "re---ed bitch," noting that no one would believe her story. Ruth also mentioned that she was a virgin before the alleged incident took place and that she had contracted HPV following the alleged sexual assault. Finally, she stated that just because Nick Carter is a celebrity does not absolve him of his crime and that she is and always will be a survivor.
Ruth said that the reason she is coming out and speaking about what she had endured is that she wants to stop Nick Carter from assaulting more teens and women and hold Nick Carter accountable. Ruth’s attorney Mark J. Boskovich also spoke during the press conference to support his client and mentioned that Nick Carter has a long history of abusing women adding that the music industry allegedly has a history of looking away but Shay is determined to bring Nick Carter to justice as she believes that it’s worth it to protect the women.
Nick Carter has decided to respond to the allegations by trying to deny them through his attorney Michael Holtz in a declaration that claims about the altercation that allegedly occurred more than 20 years ago are not only lawfully baseless but also utterly untrue. Unfortunately, for many years, Shannon 'Shay' Ruth has been attempting to manipulate into making false claims against Nick Carter, and even those accusations made have altered repeatedly and substantively over time, adding that nobody should be misled by a press conference fomented by an opportunist lawyer. Michael Holtz went on to say that there is nothing to the claims as explained by Shannon 'Shay' Ruth, and they are confident that the court will see the same.
This is not the first time Nick Carter has been accused of sexual misconduct, as back in 2017, former Dream member Melissa Schuman also claimed that Nick Carter sexually assaulted her when she was 18 and he was 22. Melissa said in a blog post at the time that she had told him that she was a virgin and she did not want to have sex and she told Nick that she was saving herself for her future husband. Melissa added that she had said it over and over again and he told her in her ear to entice her that he could be her husband.
Melissa, according to Nick Carter, never expressed to him while they were together or at any other time that whatever they were doing was not consensual. The singer mentioned that they went on to record a song and perform together, and he was always respectful and supportive of her both personally and professionally. He was not criminally charged.
The accusations against Nick Carter come just a month after his younger brother, Aaron Carter’s passing away.
