Rapper Nelly is fighting back against a lawsuit that alleges he raped a fan on his tour bus after a performance at a Seattle night club last year.
SEATTLE (AP) — Rapper Nelly is fighting back against a lawsuit that alleges he raped a fan on his tour bus after a performance at a Seattle night club last year.
Nelly filed court papers Friday in King County Superior Court denying the allegations and seeking to have a Jan. 22 amended complaint against him dismissed.
The complaint says Nelly raped a fan in Seattle last October in his bedroom on the tour bus and sexually assaulted two women after performances in England in June 2016 and December 2017.
Nelly denies all allegations.
In court documents obtained by The Associated Press, Nelly says the encounter on the tour bus was consensual and the woman became upset only when another person entered the bedroom to use the bathroom.
Nelly’s court filings were first reported by the celebrity website TMZ.com.
Nelly’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, said Saturday in an emailed statement to The AP that the allegations are «completely fabricated» and are part of a larger «money grab» by the woman.
The woman’s attorney, Karen Koehler, did not immediately return an email sent Saturday requesting comment on Nelly’s legal filing.
Nelly was arrested on his tour bus in a suburban Seattle Wal-Mart parking lot in October after a fan called 911 from the parking lot to report an alleged rape.
In court documents, the 22-year-old college student says Nelly invited her to his bedroom on the bus and masturbated in front of her. He then forced himself on her while she was intoxicated, according to the documents.
Prosecutors are unable to pursue a criminal case against Nelly because the woman decided not to cooperate with authorities.
The amended complaint alleges that after she called police, her name became public and she was attacked on social media.
She decided not to testify further in the criminal case because «she felt that she could not stand up against a celebrity and the criminal justice system would fail her,» court documents state.
She sued Nelly in December seeking unspecified damages.
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