WARNING: The article below contains content pertaining to, but not limited to civil lawsuits concerning accusations of the following offenses: sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape and sex trafficking. If you or some you know has been sexually assaulted, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
Guns N’ Roses lead vocalist Axl Rose is the focus of a sexual assault lawsuit filed by former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy in the New York Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 22.
The lawsuit alleges a friend of Kennedy’s invited her to a nightclub in New York in 1989. While there, Kennedy claims she spoke to Rose and he invited her back to his hotel room. However, the lawsuit claims the singer didn’t invite Kennedy’s friend back to the hotel room because she was “not hot enough.”
After leaving the nightclub and arriving at Rose’s hotel room, Kennedy says alcohol and cocaine were provided to those in his room. During the gathering, the former model used the restroom. As she exited the restroom, Kennedy claims Rose “pushed” her “against the wall and kissed her.”
“Kennedy found Rose attractive and did not mind this encounter. She was open to sleeping with him if things progressed,” the lawsuit states.
As the party went on, Kennedy claims Rose began to have sex with another model in a manner that appeared “painful.” The lawsuit alleges Rose began “encouraging group sex,” but she was not interested and went into a nearby hotel room with TV personality Rikki Rachtman, who she says was also in Rose’s room.
Upon leaving Rose’s hotel room, Kennedy claims she heard glass shattering and the singer yelling obscenities at the model. In response, the former Penthouse model says Rachtman to get out of the hotel because it was going “to get bad.”
After Rachtman’s call to leave the hotel, Kennedy says Rose came down the hallway, spotted her in the room and asked, “What the f*ck are you doing back here?” From there, the lawsuit alleges the singer pushed her down, dragged her back to his room and raped her.
“Kennedy had just witnessed Rose violently have sex with another woman. He dragged Kennedy to his bedroom like a caveman and acted with uncontrolled fury. Rose had physically stopped her from leaving. Kennedy was trapped,” the lawsuit states, according to Rolling Stone.
Rose, through his attorney, Alan Gutman, has denied raping Kennedy. In fact, he has gone as far as to claim that he does not know her.
“Simply put, this incident never happened. Notably, these fictional claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline expires,” Gutman told Rolling Stone.
“Though he doesn’t deny the possibility of a fan photo taken in passing, Mr. Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to the Plaintiff, and has never heard about these fictional allegations prior to today. Mr. Rose is confident this case will be resolved in his favor.”
