Nick Carter hits back at “outrageous” sexual assault claims

Nick Carter has denied the “outrageous” sexual assault claims made against him in a new documentary.

Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, which dropped this week, accused the Backstreet Boys singer of assaulting three women – Shannon Ruth, Melissa Schuman, and Ashley Repp – in the early 2000s. Nick reportedly declined to take part in the docuseries.

Now, Nick’s legal team have claimed to BBC News in a statement that the women were “spreading falsehoods”, adding: “These are exactly the same outrageous claims that led us to sue this gang of conspirators.

“Those cases are working their way through the legal system now, and, based on both the initial court rulings and the overwhelming evidence, we have every belief that we will prevail and hold them accountable for spreading these falsehoods,” they continued.

Nick was first accused of sexual assault by Shannon Ruth, who filed a civil lawsuit against the singer in 2022. She alleged that Nick raped her in 2001 when she was 17 after a Backstreet Boys concert in Tacoma, Washington. Nick’s attorney responded to the claims, calling them “legally meritless” and “entirely untrue”.

He was also accused of assaulting Melissa Schuman, former member of Dream, who originally filed a police report in 2017. Nick responded to the allegations, saying he was “shocked and saddened” as he believed their encounter was “consensual”.

Nick then countersued both Ruth and Schuman two months after the suit was filed for defamation. His legal team also accused Ruth of being “manipulated into making false allegations” by Schuman.

A third accuser with the initials A.R. also sued the singer in 2023, filing a lawsuit in Las Vegas that claimed Nick raped her when she was 15. She claimed the incidents happened multiple times on a yacht and once on the back of a tour bus in 2003 when Carter was 23, according to Billboard.

In a statement, Nick’s lawyers called the accusations “ridiculous,” saying they had been investigated and rejected as “meritless” at the time.

“Now she’s at it yet again,” Carter’s lawyer, Dale Hayes Jr, said in the statement. “But repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint doesn’t make them any more true. Nick is looking forward to the evidence being presented and the truth about these malicious schemes coming to light.”

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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