Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter Is Being Sued For Sexual Assault and Battery
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Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is facing a lawsuit from Melissa Schuman, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2003, when she was 18 years old. Schuman is a former member of the girl group Dream.
Nick Carter Sued for Sexual Assault and Battery
Rolling Stone reports that, according to the lawsuit, Schuman is accusing Carter of using “his role, status, and power as a well-known singer to gain access to, groom, manipulate, exploit, and sexually assault” her. Shuman first came forward with this accusation in 2017.
She claimed that Carter forced himself on her in his Santa Monica apartment, taking her virginity. Shuman wrote in a blog post that Carter was “relentless, refusing to take my no’s for an answer.” He denied the allegations at the time.
“I’ve faced extraordinary backlash for standing up for myself; I am not the first, however my intention is that I am the last,” Schuman said in a statement. “It’s time that powerful figures in the music industry get the message that they can no longer afford to enable and protect sexual predators. I’m fighting to make the music industry a safer place to work and perform.”
Carter’s attorney Liane K. Wakayama also released a statement this week, claiming that Schuman is “plotting to damage, defame and extort Nick, his associates, his friends and his family.”
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Carter Is Already Facing a Similar Lawsuit
Carter is also facing a lawsuit for sexual battery from Shannon Ruth, who claims the singer raped her and infected her with HPV in 2001, when she was 17. A planned Backstreet Boys Christmas special was canceled after news of the lawsuit broke.
In February, Carter’s attorney Michael Holtz filed a countersuit against Ruth for $2.35 million. Carter’s team claims this was the amount of money Carter and the Backstreet Boys lost due to Ruth’s accusations.
According to Rolling Stone, Carter also claims that Ruth was “manipulated into making false allegations” by Melissa Shuman and her father Jerome, who are among the co-defendants in the counterclaim.
