Garth Brooks responds to sexual assault allegations
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Country music superstar Garth Brooks has issued a statement following a lawsuit accusing him of raping a hair and makeup artist in 2019.
In a lawsuit filed in California court Thursday, an unnamed woman detailed a pattern of sexual abuse. Brooks' statement claims the allegations are "wholly untrue."
"For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face," Brooks said in his statement. "Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of—ugly acts no human should ever do to another."
The makeup artist's lawsuit claims Brooks committed sexual assault and battery against the woman — once in a Los Angeles hotel room in May 2019 and another at his home the same year, when he allegedly “grabbed her hands and forced them” on his crotch.
The woman says she refused but opted not to leave Brooks’ employment at the time “knowing she needed the work,” the lawsuit states.
Brooks filed his own lawsuit anonymously in September to stop the woman from publicly repeating the allegations. His lawsuit claims the allegations came about after “John Doe,” now revealed to be Brooks, denied the woman's requests for salaried employment and medical benefits.
"We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character," Brooks said. "We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides."
Brooks went on to say, "I want to play music tonight. I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”