Carter’s lawyer called the allegation “not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”
ABC has pulled the plug on “A Very Backstreet Holiday” less than a week before its original December 14 premiere.
The decision comes on the heels of a new lawsuit filed against Nick Carter alleging sexual assault. Carter was joined in the special by the entire Backstreet Boys lineup, including Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, and Kevin Richardson.
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It was to feature the Backstreet Boys singing songs from their new holiday album as well as some of their biggest hits. ABC had planned to air it on the 14th and again on December 20.
The special, which was filmed earlier this month, will be replaced by comedy repeats, per The Hollywood Reporter. It follows allegations stemming from the lawsuit that Carter sexually assaulted a teen fan in 2001.
On Thursday, the now 39-year-old alleged victim Shannon “Shay” Ruth filed suit, claiming that she was raped when she was 17 on Carter’s tour bus. Ruth has autism and cerebral palsy, per the filing.
In a statement to TMZ, Michael Holtz, an attorney for Carter, called the allegations “not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”
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Ruth’s lawsuit claims there are three additional anonymous Jane Doe victims who experienced similar sexual assault stories between 2003 and 2006. One of them was allegedly underage.
In her suit, Ruth claims that Carter offered her an alcoholic drink called “VIP juice” before the alleged assault. She further asserts that he infected her with the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Ruth’s filing said that she did not come forward sooner because he allegedly told her “she would go to jail if she told anyone what happened,” per Billboard.
“Carter tried to scare me into silence by saying no one would believe me if I told what happened,” Ruth said in a news conference announcing her suit, per Deadline. “He also said he’d turn people against me because he was Nick Carter and he had the power to wreck my life.”
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In the statement released by Holtz denying Ruth’s claims, he wrote, “Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations against Nick, and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time,” Holtz said in his statement.
“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.”
As noted by THR, Carter faced similar charges of sexual assault in 2017 when Melissa Schuman of girl group Dream accused him of assaulting her in 2003 when she was 18 years old.
Carter denied these allegations, arguing that she had never expressed to them that anything that happened “was not consensual. Prosecutors declined to bring charges in that case because the statute of limitations had expired.
