Backstreet Boys Christmas special dropped by ABC after Nick Carter accusations
A Backstreet Boys Christmas special TV show has been dropped amid sexual assault allegations made against singer Nick Carter.
The show, titled A Very Backstreet Holiday, was due to air on ABC on 14 December. However, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the show has since been pulled.
The Christmas special was going to include performances from the band’s latest album by the same name, which was released in October.
The decision to pull the show comes after Carter was reportedly sued for sexual battery of a minor, an allegation he denies.
In a lawsuit filed on Thursday 8 December, alleged victim Shannon Ruth claimed that Carter invited her onto the band’s tour bus while they were playing in Washington in 2001, per US media reports.
Ruth, who says she is autistic and lives with cerebral palsy, waived her right to anonymity and attended a press conference on Thursday with her lawyer Mark Boskovich in Beverly Hills.
The lawsuit claims that Carter gave her “VIP juice” that tasted alcoholic. According to the files, Carter is reported to have then demanded that she perform oral sex on him, before raping her.
During the recording Ruth, who alleges that she contracted HPV after the incident, claimed that “the last 21 years have been filled with pain, confusion, frustration, shame, and self-harm that are a direct result of Nick Carter raping me”.
“Even though I’m autistic and live with cerebral palsy, I believe nothing has affected me more… than what Nick Carter did to me,” she said.
In a statement given to The Independent, Michael Holtz, who is Carter’s attorney, strongly refutes the claims.
“This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue,” the statement reads.
“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.
The statement continued: “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 realise.”
In 2017, Dream singer Melissa Schuman, claimed that Carter had raped her when she was 18 and he was 22. The court case was dismissed in 2018 on the grounds of the case exceeding the statute of limitations.
