Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter has answered Melissa Schuman’s rape lawsuit in California with a cross-complaint seeking $2.5 million in damages for alleged defamation and interference with existing and prospective business contracts. The new complaint, which claims Schuman “falsely accused” Carter in 2017 due to a “thirst for Internet relevance,” mirrors a similar defamation action Carter filed against Schuman last year in Clark County, Nevada.
That prior claim surfaced in a cross-complaint to a sexual battery lawsuit filed by Shannon Ruth, a different rape accuser who alleges Carter vaginally penetrated her on a tour bus in 2001 when she was 17 years old. Carter denies the allegations from Schuman and Ruth and alleges in his Nevada filings that the women conspired with Schuman’s dad, Jerome Schuman, to harass, defame, and extort him. In the Nevada dispute based in Las Vegas, Carter claims that Ruth’s 2022 lawsuit caused him and the Backstreet Boys to lose $2,350,000 due to the alleged cancellation of promotional events, contracts, and endorsement deals with the TV network ABC, its show Good Morning America , underwear brand MeUndies, travel booking website VRBO, and the gaming platform Roblox.
Carter’s new cross-complaint filed in Los Angeles alleges Schuman’s “defamatory” statements caused Carter to lose $2.5 million worth of partnership and endorsement deals with MeUndies, VRBO, Roblox, and kids clothing label, The Children’s Place. “Additiona.