Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement

Axl Rose has reportedly settled a sexual assault lawsuit filed in 2023, with a new statement by the rock star denying its allegations.

The Guns N’ Roses frontman was alleged to have assaulted former mdoel Sheila Kennedy in a Manhattan hotel room in 1989, a lawsuit filed in New York’s Supreme Court on November 22, 2023 stated.

In March 2024, Rose filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which his legal team described as an “unscrupulous attempt at a financial windfall”.

Now, per Rolling Stone, Rose and Kennedy have reached a private settlement, with a statement provided by the singer to the publication – maintaining his innocence, he said: “As I have from the beginning, I deny the allegations. There was no assault.” The terms of the private pact were undisclosed.

In a filing obtained by Rolling Stone, both parties had reportedly filed paperwork in New York at a recent undisclosed date. It stated that they had agreed to discontinue the case with prejudice – which means that it cannot be filed again at a later date. They further agreed to cover their own legal costs, the filing stated.

In a separate statement, Rose’s lawyer told Rolling Stone that the 62-year-old “suffered greatly from this lawsuit,” and that “he will now be able to move on with his life”. Rolling Stone added that Kennedy and her lawyer were unable to be reached for comment.

In the 2023 lawsuit, Kennedy claimed that she was 26 and he was 27 when they first met at a nightclub in New York. Upon meeting, Rose is said to have invited Kennedy to his hotel room.

At first, there was an initial consensual kiss, where Rose is alleged to have “pushed Kennedy against the wall”. Furthermore, the lawsuit states that Kennedy “was open to sleeping with him if things progressed.” However, she maintains that she did not consent to alleged further violent encounters later that evening.

The lawsuit claims that Rose then “knocked her to the floor and “grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the suite back to his bedroom.” This caused “her knees to bleed from scraping on the rug.”

Rose went on to allegedly throw her on the bed, tying up her hands behind her back with pantyhose and then forcibly penetrating her. The lawsuit claimed Rose was in “a sexual, volatile rage”.

“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure,” the suit went on to allege. “Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered.”

The lawsuit claimed that Kennedy suffered from PTSD-like symptoms, along with anxiety and depression. Furthermore, Kennedy claimed her career was compromised by the alleged assault. Kennedy sought unspecified damages from the court for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and gender-motivated violence.

Rose’s lawyers stated earlier this year that Kennedy described the alleged incident as “consensual sex” in her 2016 memoir No One’s Pet, while claiming that she said she “did not consider it rape, it was consensual” in the 2021 documentary Look Away.

They also claimed that Kennedy realised she “could profit from claiming that the incident had not in fact been consensual”, due to New York’s Adult Survivors Act, a one-year ruling that extended the statute of limitations for sexual assault allegations.

The post Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement appeared first on NME.

Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement

Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement

Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement

Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement

Axl Rose settles sexual assault lawsuit, denies allegations in new statement