Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter has been accused of rape, but he says the encounter was consensual
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- Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter has been accused of rape by Melissa Schuman, a former pop singer.
- Schuman wrote a detailed blog post alleging that Carter sexually assaulted her in 2002.
- In a statement, Carter said he is "shocked and saddened" by the allegations, and that he believed the interaction was "consensual."
Melissa Schuman, a former member of the early 2000s pop group Dream, has accused Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter of rape. In a statement, Carter said he believed the encounter to be consensual.
In a detailed blog post, Schuman said that the alleged assault occurred in 2002, after she and Carter were cast in the same made-for-TV movie, "The Hollow."
She said that Carter invited her to his Santa Monica apartment and performed oral sex on her, despite Schuman's insistence that she "didn't want go any further" beyond kissing. She said Carter demanded oral sex in return, and that he angrily ignored her protest: "I told him that I was a virgin and I didn't want to have sex," Schuman wrote.
"He was visually and clearly growing very angry and impatient with me. I couldn't leave. It was evident to me, that I couldn't leave. He was stronger and much bigger than me, and there was no way I would be able to open that door or have anyone help me," she continued. "When he placed my hand on his penis my thought was the only way to get out was to get him to finish what he had started."
According to Schuman, at that point, Carter took her into a bedroom, "threw [her] on the bed," and raped her.
"He was heavy, too heavy to get out from under him. Then I felt it," she wrote. "It was done."
"I am shocked and saddened by Ms. Schuman's accusations," Carter told Business Insider in a statement Wednesday. "Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual. We went on to record a song and perform together, and I was always respectful and supportive of Melissa both personally and professionally. This is the first that I am hearing about these accusations, nearly two decades later. It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm."
In her blog post, Schuman went on to write that Carter began calling her repeatedly in weeks following the alleged incident.
"He jammed my phone with calls for weeks, leaving me messages demanding I speak with him," she wrote. Eventually, she said, he left "one last nasty, angry message."
Schuman said she she had considered pressing charges at the time, but that she feared the effect it may have on her career.
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