Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery in a lawsuit from Jane Roe, a hairstyle and makeup artist for the country music star.
According to documents obtained by TheWrap, the alleged incidents took place back in 2019. Roe asserts she was once raped by Brooks while employed by him at an event. The singer has previously denied the accusations.
The suit alleges that in May 2019, when Roe flew with Brooks to Los Angeles to tape a Grammy tribute performance to Sam Moore, Brooks raped her in a hotel room during the trip.
“Usually there were others on Brooks’ private jet but this time, Ms. Roe and Brooks were the only two passengers,” the complaint reads. “Once in Los Angeles at the hotel, Ms. Roe could not believe that Brooks had booked a hotel suite with one bedroom and she did not have a separate room.”
Brooks filed a preemptive complaint in an attempt to block Roe from speaking out again. He tried to do this anonymously – filing under a “John Doe” alias. The plaintiff in that case was described only as a “celebrity and public figure who resides in Tennessee.”
“Brooks is desperate to prevent his millions of fans from learning about the horrific things he has said and done to a junior female employee who did nothing to deserve such treatment,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiff is represented by Douglas Wigdor, who previously filed numerous #MeToo lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein and others. The documents were filed in Los Angeles on Thursday.
“We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks,” Wigdor and co-counsels Jeanne M. Christensen and Hayley Baker said in a statement. “The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music. We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions and his efforts to silence our client through the filing of a preemptive complaint in Mississippi was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation. We encourage others who may have been victimized to contact us as no survivor should suffer in silence.”
The country music star’s preemptive complaint was filed Sept. 13 and sought an injunction stopping Roe from pursuing her claim.
“Defendant’s allegations are not true,” Brooks’ previous lawsuit stated. “Defendant is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.”