Nick Carter’s Lawyers Reject ‘Outrageous’ Assault Claims in ‘Fallen Idols’ Docuseries
“These are exactly the same outrageous claims that led us to sue this gang of conspirators,” the musician’s legal team said
Nick Carte at a March 2023 court hearing in Las Vegas. BIZUAYEHU TESFAYE/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE/GETTY IMAGES
Nick Carter rebuffed the sexual assault allegations leveled in the new docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, with his lawyers calling the claims “outrageous,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
The four-part Investigation Discovery series, which premiered earlier this week, features interviews with three women, Melissa Schulman, Shannon Ruth, and Ashley Repp, who’ve all accused Carter of sexual assault. Carter has denied the allegations and brought countersuits of his own.
In a statement, Carter’s lawyers, Liane Wakayama and Dale Hayes Jr., said of the claims in Fallen Idols: “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.”
Schuman, a former member of the girl group Dream, was the first to accuse Carter of assault in 2017. He denied it at the time, no further claims emerged, and Carter continued to perform with the Backstreet Boys. Then, in 2022, Ruth sued Carter, claiming he assaulted and raped her after a Backstreet Boys concert in 2001. Carter responded with a countersuit, denying the allegations and saying Ruth had been manipulated into making false allegations” by various people, including Schuman.
Schuman proceeded to file a lawsuit of her own, while a third complaint, brought by a Jane Doe identified as A.R., was brought in Aug. 2023. Carter has denied all the allegations against him and brought defamation suits against his accusers.
Along with Schuman, Ruth, and Repp, Fallen Idols features an interview with Carter’s ex-girlfriend, Kaya Jones of the Pussycat Dolls. The film also digs into the life of Carter’s younger brother, Aaron, and the mental health and substance abuse issues that ultimately led to his death in 2022 (a coroner report said Aaron drowned after huffing and taking a generic form of Xanax). Part of the film explores the backlash Nick Carter’s accusers have faced, and the tensions that emerged between the brothers after Aaron spoke out in support of Nick’s accusers.
From Rolling Stone US.
