T.I. and his wife Tiny are being sued by an Air Force veteran who claims the couple drugged and sexually assaulted her.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday (January 2) by a Jane Doe plaintiff, who says the alleged incident took place in 2005, when she was around 22-23 years old.
Doe claims she was stationed in Los Angeles and attended a party at Coolio’s house, where she met a man known as Caviar who purportedly worked for the couple. She alleges he set up a meeting with her and the couple at a club the following night and says that when she got into the VIP section, Tiny – real name Tameka Harris – handed her a drink that she believes was spiked.
According to the suit, which was seen by Rolling Stone, Doe says she was separated from her friend and taken to a hotel room with T.I., Tiny, and two other women, who eventually were asked to leave. She claims T.I. – real name Clifford Harris – made demands of her with “explicit detail” like he was “reciting a script” before Tiny stripped her naked and entered the shower with her.
By this time, Doe alleges she was “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and appeared “visibly drugged” when T.I. directed her to the bed and then turned on a pornographic film as Tiny climbed on her back and held her face down on her stomach.
“While Tiny was straddled on Plaintiff’s back and pinning her down, T.I. then proceeded to slide his toes into Plaintiff’s vagina,” the filing reads. “Plaintiff told him ‘No’ (and) tried to move T.I. out of her and away from her. T.I. then said he would go get a condom and Tiny continued to arouse herself by grinding on Plaintiff and massaging her backside. The plaintiff grew increasingly sicker and felt extremely ill by the assault and battery she was experiencing.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 09: T.I. and Tiny attend Rip Micheals’ April Fools Comedy Jam at Barclays Center on April 09, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
The woman alleges she then had to go to the bathroom to vomit and while she was there, T.I. mockingly said, “Are you all right? … Looks like you in last place.” She alleges she passed out and noticed she was in “serious pain” the next morning when a security guard demanded that she leave the room where T.I. and Tiny purportedly were sleeping.
“Forcing someone, in this case by way of drugs, into doing something of a sexual nature they don’t want to is sexual battery — rape,” the plaintiff’s lawyer Rodney Diggs told Rolling Stone. “Even after all these years, the embarrassment, shame, depression — it still lingers. Silencing women silences justice. No longer will my client remain silent; we are now seeking justice for her and everyone who has been similarly violated.”
The woman filed a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department in April 2021. However, a declination provided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office a few months later said that the case would not be considered as the statute of limitations, which is ten years, has expired.
However, Doe was able to file her lawsuit under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which came into effect on January 1, 2023, and offered a one-year “look-back” window to file lawsuits in cases of alleged sexual abuse with expired statues of limitations, so long as the allegations include an attempted cover-up. (Some cases were allowed to be filed on Tuesday since the law expired during a holiday weekend.)
T.I. and Tiny vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the outlet. “On the heels of positivity, negativity always rears its ugly head. This plaintiff has been threatening to file this lawsuit for THREE years. For THREE years, we have emphatically and categorically denied these allegations,” they said.
“For THREE years we have maintained our innocence and refused to pay these extortionate demands for things we didn’t do. For THREE years, we’ve maintained the same position while the claims in this story have changed time and time again. Our position is clear. We are innocent of these fake claims, we will not be shaken down, and we look forward to our day in court.”
In May 2021, the New York Times reported that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had closed a different case filed against T.I. and Tiny, alleging an incident of sexual assault and drugging in 2010, as the statute of limitations had expired.
Several sexual abuse allegations have been made against T.I. and Tiny, beginning in January 2021 when the couple’s former friend Sabrina Peterson shared excerpts of conversations between her and several other women who alleged various instances of sexual abuse and coercion.
Following Peterson’s allegations, T.I. and Tiny said that they “deny in the strongest possible terms these baseless and unjustified allegations”.
In March, lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn, who was at the time representing 11 people alleging sexual assault against T.I. and Tiny (including Peterson and Jane Doe), said that six other people had come forward to him with allegations against them.
A lawyer for T.I. and Tiny, Steve Sadow, responded to Blackburn’s claims: “Respectfully, when Blackburn exposes his would-be accusers to the light of day by revealing their names, I will have a real comment. Hiding their identities makes it impossible for me to do so.”
In May, T.I. appeared to reference the allegations in the song ‘What It’s Come To’. The following month, he released a music video for the track that depicted him and Tiny as figures at the centre of a grand scheme to take them down.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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