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Garth Brooks Responds to Sexual Assault Lawsuit: ‘I Am Not the Man They Have Painted Me to Be’

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, an anonymous accuser claims Brooks raped her during a May 2019 stay in a Los Angeles hotel room.

Garth Brooks performs onstage for the class of 2022 medallion ceremony at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Oct. 16, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee.

After Garth Brooks was accused of rape and other sexual misconduct in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Thursday (Oct. 3), the country star has responded and insists he is “not the man they have painted me to be.”

The allegations come from an unnamed woman who claims Brooks sexually assaulted her while she worked for him as a hairstylist and makeup artist starting in 2017 after working for his wife, fellow country star Trisha Yearwood, since 1999. In the lawsuit, the Jane Roe accuser says Brooks raped her during a May 2019 stay in an L.A. hotel room and also exposed her to “other appalling sexual conduct” during that same year.

Thursday’s lawsuit also brought to light an earlier suit filed last month in Mississippi federal court by an anonymous “celebrity” plaintiff in an effort to keep an accuser from going public with sexual abuse allegations and referring to them as “ongoing attempted extortion.”

In a statement sent late Thursday to Billboard, Brooks denies the sexual assault allegations — saying the threats and accusations “felt like having a loaded gun waved in my face” — and confirms that he was behind last month’s mystery Mississippi filing, which he says was done anonymously “for the sake of families on both sides.”

“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,” Brooks began his statement. “It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face. 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. We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.

“I want to play music tonight,” Brooks concluded, referencing his scheduled concert Thursday evening at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace as part of his ongoing Las Vegas residency. “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.”

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

K'naan Charged with Sexual Assault

The Somali-Canadian rapper, born Keinan Abdi Warsame, has been charged for an alleged assault in Quebec City in 2010 while he was there for Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ).

Canadian musician K'naan has been charged with sexual assault.

A charge sheet was filed this morning (Sept. 26) in Quebec City for the musician and director, born Keinan Abdi Warsame, for a count of sexual assault dating back to 2010, The Canadian Press reports.

The arrest warrant alleges that the assault took place between July 16 and 17 in Quebec City, which coincides with a show he played at Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) in 2010. The musician was not present at court.

CBC reports that the complaint was first filed in May of 2022 with the Montreal police, but was later transferred to Quebec City. The assault allegedly took place in a hotel room on territory covered by the Quebec City police force.

K'naan, who's known for his 2009 hit "Wavin' Flag" (later rerecorded as the global anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup), took an extended break after his 2012 album Troubadour but had recently returned to prominence.

The Somali-Canadian musician returned with "Refugee" in 2023, a song that he said was intended to feel "like a home for those of us made homeless by conflict." K'naan won the Best Song for Social Change Award by the Recording Academy at this year's Grammy Awards.

Just over two weeks ago, K'naan made his debut as a director, premiering his feature film Mother Motherat this year's Toronto International Film Festival. This week, on Sept. 24, K'naan attended the SOCAN Awards at History in Toronto and accepted the SOCAN Cultural Impact Award for the lasting global impact of his anthem, "Wavin' Flag."

Warsame was not in attendance for the proceedings in Quebec this morning. The case has been set for April 2025. According to Radio-Canada, Warsame's lawyer has requested he be tried in English in front of a jury.

Toronto Rapper Top5 Appears to Thank Drake "For The Lawyer Fees" After Being Set Free in Murder Case

Screenshots posted by DJ Akademiks of an Instagram post taken outside the courthouse showed the rapper thanking both Drake and his lawyer Gary Grill. The original post has since been edited and no longer references Drake. Top5, born Hassan Ali, was released this week after three years in custody.

Top5 (right) with his lawyer Gary Grill.

Toronto rapper Top5 was set free on Monday (Sept. 23) after three years in custody. The artist, born Hassan Ali, had his charge of first-degree murder stayed by the Crown in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The rapper posted a photo of himself with his lawyer Gary Grill on Instagram soon after the decision. Many, including DJ Akademiks, quickly reposted the image with its apparent original caption thanking Drake for paying his legal fees: "Shoutout big bro @champagnepapi for the Lawyer Fees & Gary Grill for being the best lawyer in Toronto. #ALLAHUAKBAR"

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Top5's edited caption thanks his lawyer without the reference to Drake (a.k.a. @champagnepapi on Instagram.)

The rapper had been charged in the death of 20-year-old accounting student Hashim Omar Hashi, who was murdered in Toronto in 2021. Ali was arrested in Windsor, Ontario about two weeks after the shooting and had served three years in custody. Initially charged as an accessory after the fact, the charge against him was upgraded to first-degree murder. He was about to undergo trial when the proceedings were halted on Monday, the Toronto Starreports.

The Crown (essentially the prosecution in criminal cases in Canada) suspended its case against Ali when the judge disallowed Top5 social media posts as evidence in the trial. The Crown had intended to use posts referring to the Go Getem Gang to link Ali to the murder as part of a gang rivalry. Ali claims that his references to Go Getem Gang are to the record label of the same name.

"An innocent man just came home," Ali said outside the courthouse after the decision.

Grill said the case against Ali was based on his persona as a drill artist and that the Crown was using his lyrics against him.

"The problem about prosecuting artists like Mr. Ali based on their music is it fails to understand what the medium is, what it's about, and how drillers approach their audiences," Grill said, as reported by CBC. "It's important for all drillers to portray themselves as the biggest, baddest gangsters on the planet. That's what sells. That's what all drillers are doing."

With a stay ruling, the Crown now has a year to restart the proceedings.

Diddy Arrested in NYC After Grand Jury Indictment

Sean Combs has been charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering, according to the unsealed indictment.

Sean "Diddy" Combs attends Day 1 of 2023 Invest Fest at Georgia World Congress Center on August 26, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Diddy was arrested in New York on Monday night (Sept. 16) after being indicted by a grand jury, Billboard has confirmed.

At the time, it was unknown what the charges were, but the indictment was unsealed Tuesday morning, revealing that Combs has been charged with federal sex trafficking and racketeering, the Associated Press reported. The music mogul had “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals,” according to the AP, citing the documents.

In a statement sent to Billboard on Monday night, Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Diddy (real name: Sean Combs), said: “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community.”

The statement continued: “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

According to TMZ, Combs was taken into federal custody at the FBI’s Manhattan field office on Monday.

The rap mogul has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including the suit that started it all from ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that was later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. Even before the video emerged, that suit was privately settled in under 24 hours. Combs is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.

The most recent lawsuit against him comes from Danity Kane’s Dawn Richard, who filed a complaint last week in Manhattan federal court saying Diddy “manipulated” her into thinking that “abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.” Richard claims she witnessed Combs abuse Ventura on multiple occasions – and that recent lawsuits from Cassie and others sparked her to speak out.

“As more women courageously come forward, plaintiff has been empowered by this collective strength and now adds her voice to the growing chorus of victims bravely sharing their harrowing stories,” lawyers for Richard write. “Together, they seek justice and stand in solidarity, as the latest victims of the # MeToo movement in the music industry.”

In a statement issued in response to Richard’s claim on Wednesday, Combs’ attorney Erica Wolff said her client was “shocked and disappointed” by the new allegations.

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

Canadian Rockers The Guess Who Settle Legal Battle Over Trademark Rights to Band Name

The band, best known for hits like "American Woman" and "These Eyes," is the latest in a long line of classic rock acts to fight over a decades-old name.

The Guess Who pose for a portrait in circa 1966.

The members of 1960s rock band The Guess Who have settled a bitter trademark lawsuit in which two bandmates referred to a recent iteration of the group as nothing more than a “cover band.”

In a statement, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings said they had reached a deal to resolve their lawsuit against fellow original members Jim Kale and Garry Peterson — ending a legal battle among the four original members of the band best known for hits like “American Woman” and “These Eyes.”

Under the deal, Bachman and Cummings said they will acquire full control over the trademark to the band’s name. Monetary terms and other aspects of the agreement were not disclosed in the announcement, and no legal papers announcing the settlement have yet been filed in court.

“We are pleased to have reached a resolution that honors our shared history and allows us to move forward with a new sense of purpose and camaraderie,” Bachman said, with Cummings adding that they were “committed to preserving and celebrating the legacy for our fans.”

Attorneys for Kale and Peter didn’t immediately return a request for comment. As recently as April, their attorneys called the lawsuit “a complete farce” and threatened to “hold Bachman and Cummings accountable for their wrongful and extortionate conduct.”

The battle between the members of The Guess Who was just the latest clash between bandmates over the legal rights to classic group names. Journey, Stone Temple Pilots and Jefferson Starship have all fought protracted litigation over their trademarks, as have members of The Rascals, The Ebonys, The Commodores and The Platters.

Such disputes often arise out of one question: Who truly constitutes the band? Is it the members, or an LLC that owns the rights to the name? Is it the original lineup, or the one that produced the biggest hits? Does one key member and a bunch of replacements count? Fans, band members and lawyers will likely give you different answers.

Bachman and Cummings sued last year, claiming that Kale and Peterson were misleading the public by operating a “cover band” under the name The Guess Who. The case claimed that the rival band had never featured Bachman or Cummings, that Kale had retired in 2016 and that Peterson only rarely took the stage — but that the group had been falsely advertised as the real thing.

The lawsuit called the band a “deceptive scheme” driven by Kale and Peterson’s “greed.”

“Defendants’ false advertisements and marketing have led to confusion and outrage by fans and consumers, many of whom have taken to social media to share their experiences of being deceived into buying tickets to see the Cover Band because of advertising and promotion by Defendants implying that the Cover Band’s live performances will include Plaintiffs,” read the lawsuit filed by Bachman and Cummings.

Unsurprisingly, Kale and Peterson saw things differently. In an April motion to dismiss the lawsuit, they pointed out that they owned the federal trademark registration for the name and called the lawsuit a “complete farce” — perpetrated by two former members who had left the band in the 1970s and whom nobody expected to see in the current lineup.

“Consumers who see an ad for a concert by The Guess Who would not reasonably assume that Bachman and Cummings are performing merely because they were in the band many years ago,” Kale and Peterson’s attorneys wrote. “It is common knowledge that bands often undergo membership changes and that few if any bands formed in the 1960s still have the same lineup today.”

Responding to a lawsuit that called them a “cover band,” Kale and Peterson fired back with their own personal digs, painting Bachman and Cummings as spurned former members who were jealous of their ex-bandmates’ ongoing success.

“After all, that is what is really driving this lawsuit. Following their time in The Guess Who, Bachman and Cummings performed as solo artists or in other acts, but found less success than they apparently expected,” read Kale and Peterson’s response. “As a result, Bachman and Cummings have tried to take The Guess Who name for themselves, despite having left the band decades ago and Defendants carrying on the band’s legacy.”

This article was originally published by Billboard Pro.

Eagles’ Don Henley Files Lawsuit for Return of Handwritten ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics

The civil complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday (June 28).

Don Henley of The Eagles leaves Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 26, 2024 in New York City.

Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (June 28) seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s 1976 album Hotel California.

The civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court comes after prosecutors in March abruptly dropped criminal charges midway through a trial against three collectibles experts accused of scheming to sell the documents.

The Eagles co-founder has maintained the pages were stolen and had vowed to pursue a lawsuit when the criminal case was dropped against rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski.

“These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit,” Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement Friday.

According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the custody of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which declined to comment Friday on the litigation.

Lawyers for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the legal action as baseless, noting the criminal case was dropped after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding critical information.

“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Shawn Crowley, Kosinski’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to litigating this case and bringing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”

Inciardi’s lawyer, Stacey Richman, said in a separate statement that the lawsuit attempts to “bully” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”

A lawyer for Horowitz, who isn’t named as a defendant as he doesn’t claim ownership of the materials, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

During the trial, the men’s lawyers argued that Henley gave the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who worked on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who started putting some of the pages up for auction in 2012.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors agreed that defense lawyers had essentially been blindsided by 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates.

Prosecutors and the defense said they received the material only after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.

Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the nonjury trial that opened in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated.”

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.