WATCH: ABC pulls Backstreet Boys holiday special after Nick Carter accused of rape
Julia Johnson
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ABC has pulled the Backstreet Boys’s holiday special following the emergence of a lawsuit accusing Nick Carter of the rape of a minor in 2001.
A Very Backstreet Holiday will no longer air on Dec. 14, the Washington Examiner has confirmed. In place of the special, repeats of comedy shows will run on the network.
On Thursday, law firm Corsiglia McMahon & Allard announced the suit on behalf of Shannon “Shay” Ruth. The firm represents child molestation victims. A rattled Ruth cried throughout the press conference as her attorney Mark Boskovich described the alleged assault at the hands of Carter.
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The suit, filed in the 8th Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada, alleges that a 17-year-old Ruth was raped by the pop star after a Backstreet Boys concert in Tacoma, Washington, in 2001. She says she was a virgin at the time.
Ruth said Carter had given her a beverage that he called “VIP juice.”
“I pleaded with him over and over again to stop,” she said of the alleged assault. “I was so upset that I cried throughout the ordeal.”
Ruth further claimed that Carter threatened her, telling her that “no one would believe me and I’d go to jail if I told what happened. He also said he’d turn people against me because he’s Nick Carter and he would wreck my life.”
According to her attorney, Ruth is on the autism spectrum and also suffers from cerebral palsy. Ruth told reporters that during the assault, Carter called her a “retarded b****.”
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Ruth said she found that she had contracted HPV after the assault.
“The investigation into Shay’s case led us to other victims, whose stories are remarkably similar — they were all virgins when Carter sexually assaulted them, and they were all infected with HPV,” Boskovich said. “I’m hoping other women will come forward and stand with Shay since Nick Carter apparently has a long history of sexual assaults.”
Some of the other victims are mentioned in the suit anonymously as Jane Does.
“We want entertainers like Carter to know that just because they’re famous, they’re not above the law,” the attorney continued.
In a statement, Carter’s attorney Michael Holtz called the accusations “legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”
“Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick — and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time. No one should be fooled by a press stunt orchestrated by an opportunistic lawyer — there is nothing to this claim whatsoever, which we have no doubt the courts will quickly realize.”
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The special was set to be narrated by Seth Rogen and feature appearances by Meghan Trainor, Rob Riggle, Nikki Glaser, Ron Funches, and Atsuko Okatsuka.
A representative for the Backstreet Boys did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.