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Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N’ Roses, was accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy’s lawsuit alleges that Rose sexually assaulted her in his hotel room after he met her at a New York nightclub in 1989, near the height of his band’s fame. Kennedy is seeking unspecified damages for psychological and emotional distress.
“We expect Sheila Kennedy’s decision to file this lawsuit will be a major turning point for the music industry,” Ann Olivarius, an attorney representing Kennedy, said in a statement. “Your report is unfortunately all too typical of a culture of violence and sexual misconduct that has clearly existed for decades. … We hope Sheila’s bravery helps other victims find their voice.”
Alan S. Gutman, Rose’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday that “this incident never occurred.”
“While he does not dispute the possibility of a fan photo taken in passing, Mr. Rose does not recall ever meeting or speaking with plaintiff and had never heard of these fictitious allegations before today,” Gutman wrote. “Mr. Rose is confident that this case will be resolved in his favor.”
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Kennedy claims in her lawsuit that she and Rose met at a New York nightclub. She said he invited her back to his luxury hotel suite, where they were joined by former MTV personality David Andrew “Riki” Rachtman and another unnamed model.
A party was held in the room, where Rose allegedly provided cocaine and alcohol. The lawsuit alleges that Rose approached Kennedy outside the bathroom and kissed her, which she didn’t mind because she was “open to sleeping with him if things progressed and they continued to find each other attractive.” .
Rose allegedly asked Rachtman to vacate Rose’s suite and leave him alone with Kennedy and the second model. The three went to Rose’s bedroom, where Kennedy said she became uncomfortable when Rose began having sex with the other model “in a way that seemed painful” and when Rose seemed to “encourage group sex.”
According to the lawsuit, Kennedy went to Rachtman’s room where she heard Rose arguing violently with the other woman. She said Rachtman told her, “It’s going to be bad.” Rose then stormed down the hallway into Rachtman’s room, grabbed Kennedy and threw her to the floor, the lawsuit says.
“While Kennedy was still on the floor, Rose grabbed her by her hair and dragged her across the suite back to his bedroom,” the lawsuit says. “This was very painful for Kennedy and caused her knees to bleed from scratching on the carpet.”
Kennedy claims Rose threw her on the bed, tied her hands behind her back with pantyhose, left her “captive” and then raped her.
“Rose made no attempt to seek or verify Kennedy’s consent,” the lawsuit says. “He treated her like property for the sole purpose of his sexual pleasure.”
Rose has long struggled with legal troubles, including an arrest on assault charges related to a boisterous concert in the early 1990s. Two of Rose’s former partners, Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour, claimed the Guns N’ Roses singer abused them for years. Everly sued Rose in Los Angeles civil court in 1994 for assault and battery, but settled the claims out of court.
Kennedy’s lawsuit mentions another alleged incident in 1985, before she met him, in which he was accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl, but was not prosecuted.
Her new allegations fall under the Adult Survivors Act, a 2022 New York law that gives adult survivors of sexual assault one year to file a lawsuit without regard to when the abuse occurred. The act was used in a recent lawsuit filed against hip-hop mogul Sean Combs.
The lawsuit alleges that the incident caused Kennedy to experience PTSD-like symptoms “whenever she heard Rose’s name or the music of Guns N’ Roses.”
This story has been updated.
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