The Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was named in a civil lawsuit filed against him in the US on Thursday by a woman with cerebral palsy who alleges that he sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager.
After a concert in 2001, Shannon Ruth, now 39, claimed the singer raped her after forcing her to engage in oral sex on him on a tour bus.
Attorney Mark Boskovich told a virtual press conference that Ruth, who was then 17, had been queuing for an autograph after a Backstreet Boys show in Tacoma, Washington, when Carter invited her onto the bus.
‘He gave her a funny tasting beverage that he called VIP juice,’ Boskovich told reporters.
‘Then Carter took her to the bus’s bathroom and told her to get on her knees, and he pulled down his pants and exposed his genitals ordering (her) to perform sexual acts on him,’ he added.
Ruth, who was a virgin at the time, cried throughout the ordeal, but Carter persisted, Boskovich said.
‘Carter took her to a bed in the back of the bus. He pushed her onto the bed and proceeded to rape her, despite her pleas.’
After the sexual assault, Ruth, who is also autistic, said she would tell people what had happened.
‘He grabbed and bruised her arm and screamed at her,’ the lawyer said, adding that Carter had called her ‘retarded’ and said ‘no one would ever believe in her.’
During the 30-minute press conference, Ruth, who has forfeited her right to remain anonymous, as is common for victims of sexual offences, sobbed openly.
‘Even though I’m autistic and live with cerebral palsy, I believe that nothing has affected me more or had a more lasting impact on my life than what Nick Carter did and said to me,’ she said.
The civil lawsuit, which was filed in Las Vegas, demands unspecified damages from the singer, whose hits as a member of the Backstreet Boys include ‘I Want It That Way’ and ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).’
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