A new lawsuit has accused Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter of raping a 17-year-old girl on a tour bus during the boy band’s 2001 Black & Blue concert tour.
The legal filing, which was first reported by TMZ, comes from Shannon “Shay” Ruth, who claims Carter, now 42, invited her onto a tour bus after a concert in Tacoma, Wash., when she was a minor.
Ruth alleges Carter offered her what he called “VIP juice” which she says tasted alcoholic before he led her to a bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex. In the lawsuit, Ruth said she was a virgin and cried throughout.
She claims Carter then “pushed” her onto a bed and raped her as she “begged him to stop.”
Through his own lawyer, Carter vehemently denied Ruth’s allegations in a statement. He said the claims are “not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”
“Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick — and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time,” wrote Carter’s lawyer Michael Holtz.
“No one should be fooled by a press stunt orchestrated by an opportunistic lawyer — there is nothing to this claim whatsoever, which we have no doubt the courts will quickly realize.”
Ruth, who lives with autism and cerebral palsy, said Carter called her a “r——d little bi—h” when she threatened to report him in 2001.
At a press conference on Thursday, Ruth claimed “Carter tried to scare me into silence.” Through tears, Ruth said Carter told her that “he’d turn people against me because he was Nick Carter and had the power to wreck my life.”
At the press conference, Ruth said Carter should not be excused for his alleged crime because he is a celebrity.
The lawsuit also includes allegations from three other women, who are all identified only as Jane Doe.
