Category: Garth Brooks

Last week, Garth Brooks was sued in a California state court for sexual assault, battery and harassment. The woman who sued him used to work for him – as an independent contractor/hair stylist and MUA – and she claims that he exposed himself to her, harassed her in person and electronically and assaulted her at a hotel. Brooks pushed back on her claims, saying that the woman had “hassled” him with “threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face.” Brooks also noted that he filed an anonymous suit in September to stop the attempted extortion and defamation. Now Garth Brooks has filed two complaints in Mississippi. Sidenote: why all of the jurisdictional drama? The woman apparently lives in Mississippi, Garth and Trisha live in Tennessee, so why did the woman initially file suit in California?

Garth Brooks is taking legal action in response to a lawsuit filed by a former hairstylist and makeup artist of his that accused him of sexual assault and battery last week. The “Friends in Low Places” singer, 62, filed a pair of complaints in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on Tuesday, Oct. 8, denying the allegations the woman — whom he names in one of the documents — made against him and claiming that he was the “victim of a shakedown.”

In one of the complaints obtained by PEOPLE, Brooks used the pseudonym “John Doe” and noted that he would “re-file his complaint without pseudonyms” against “Jane Doe,” since the woman’s attorneys “disclosed” his identity to the press. In that filing, he also claimed that he was seeking to “defend himself against extortion.”

In his second complaint, Brooks asked for a trial by jury in order to “obtain relief” from the woman who he claimed was also attempting “defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress” on him. The musician alleged that the woman “devised a malicious scheme to blackmail” him into paying her “millions of dollars” after he “rejected her request for salaried employment and medical benefits.” He also claimed that she “threatened” to “publicly disclose false claims” about him that would “imperil his business and reputation.”

He further claimed in his court filing that she had worked as an “independent contractor” for him for 15 years before relocating from Tennessee to Mississippi. He said following her move, she “encountered financial difficulties” and asked him for assistance, which he claims he offered. Brooks claims the woman eventually asked for “salaried employment and medical benefits,” but when he denied her request, she “responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct she claims occurred years ago.” The allegations, which included sexual “grooming,” “unwanted sexual touching and sexual assault” among others, were allegedly submitted in a “demand letter” to Brooks and “others” whom he worked with on July 17, 2024.

“The July 17 demand letter was the first time Plaintiff learned of these allegations, none of which has any basis in fact,” the complaint alleged. He claimed the woman then “threatened” to “publicly file” the letter — which he called “false and defamatory” — in a “draft civil complaint” against him unless he agreed to pay her “millions of dollars.” He said in the filing that she threatened that if he “failed to meet this demand” for payment, he “would face exposure of many millions of dollars ‘based on [his] net worth.’ ”

In addition to a trial, Brooks requested a “declaratory judgment” from the court that her allegations “against him of sexual misconduct are untrue” and compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorney’s fees.

[From People]

In the previous post, I said that “believe women” should still apply, and I hope this woman is given a fair hearing. If she has evidence to back up her claims, the court and the lawyers will hopefully be able to figure something out. We’ve gotten so used to accused predators huffing and puffing about how they’re going to fight the charges, and then some of the time, those guys settle out of court quickly once their lawyers tell them “hey, this evidence doesn’t look good for you” or “this could do huge reputational damage if any of this comes out.” So keep your eye on that, although the way Garth is going after this woman in court, my gut is telling me that he’s not going to settle.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Garth Brooks has been married to Trisha Yearwood almost 19 years. This is Garth’s second marriage, and he’s father to three daughters with his first wife. Garth has been quieter in recent years, although he did perform at President Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Well, Garth is now facing accusations of rape and battery by his former hairstylist and makeup artist. Garth has already released a statement, which is folded into CNN’s reporting:

Country music star Garth Brooks has been accused of sexual assault and battery in a lawsuit from a “Jane Roe” who says she worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist for the award-winning singer. The complaint, filed in a state court in California on Thursday and obtained by CNN, states the alleged incidents occurred in 2019. She claims she was once raped by Brooks during a work trip.

In a statement to CNN later on Thursday, Brooks said, “For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another,” he added. “We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”

Prior to Roe’s filing and as first reported by CNN, an anonymous celebrity plaintiff – now disclosed to be Brooks – had tried to block Roe from publicly repeating her allegations and fiercely denied the claims, according to a previous complaint he had filed as a “John Doe.”

Roe began handling hair and makeup services for Brooks in 2017, according to her suit, which states that she was first hired to do hair and makeup for his wife, Trisha Yearwood, in 1999. In addition to sexual assault and battery, the suit accuses Brooks of repeatedly exposing his genitals and buttocks; talking about sex and sharing sexual fantasies with Roe; regularly changing his clothing in front of Roe; and sending sexually explicit text messages.

In her filing, Roe claims that during one alleged incident in 2019, when she was at Brooks’ home for work, he walked out of the shower naked, “grabbed her hands and forced them” onto his genitals, while speaking to her with sexually explicit and vulgar language.

In another alleged incident in May 2019, the suit alleges that Brooks raped Roe in a hotel room during a work trip to Los Angeles where Brooks was taping a Grammy tribute performance.

[From CNN]

I truly hope that Garth is being falsely accused, but I don’t know. I really don’t. Believe women, and let’s hear the accusations in full and hopefully the lawyers and the court will figure out what’s really going on. Like… my gut says that Garth is absolutely capable of cheating and even saying inappropriate sh-t, which would constitute harassment. But rape and assault? I don’t know.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

Do y’all ever watch Trisha Yearwood’s Food Network cooking show? She’s not really a chef, she’s more of a home cook, but I enjoy watching her cook, make cocktails and hang out with her friends. Her husband Garth Brooks appears rarely, but Trisha references him a lot and they definitely seem to have a solid and fun marriage. Well, I didn’t know that Garth and Trisha are opening a bar in Nashville, but that’s happening this summer. Garth was asked about the bar and whether he would serve Bud Light, and he had some great things to say. Just FYI: the bigots, homophobes and transphobes are “boycotting” Bud Light because they’re mad that Bud Light hired trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney to promote the beer. Several bars operated by bigots have removed Bud Light from their menu. Not Garth.

Country superstar Garth Brooks has stated that his new Nashville bar will sell Bud Light, and that the establishment will not tolerate transphobia. Brooks made the revelation during a panel at Billboard Country Live this week. His “Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk” is named after one of his biggest hits, and the venue is scheduled to open in Nashville’s Lower Broadway area this summer. Many country artists have opened bars in the area bearing their names.

“I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another,” Brooks said on the panel. “And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a–hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

Bud Light has been hemorrhaging customers since its ill-fated marketing decision to team with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, offending some conservatives. In Nashville, bars owned by John Rich and Kid Rock no longer serve Bud Light. Fox News Digital found John Rich at his bar on Friday and asked him about the Brooks statement.

“If Garth is serving Bud Light in his bar, that’s fine,” Rich said. “Garth can do that. Garth might find out not many people are going to order it. And at the end of the day, you have to put things in your establishment that people are going to purchase if you’re going to run a successful business. So, he might find that out.”

[From Deadline]

What’s worse, transphobic bigots boycotting Bud Light, or Bud Light trying to back-pedal on hiring Dylan Mulvaney? Like, I don’t drink alcohol anymore so it’s not like I have a horse in this race, but Bud Light tastes gross, they didn’t take a moral high ground and they’re being boycotted by terrible people. There are no winners in this particular culture war.

All that being said, I love the fact that Garth doesn’t even wade into the dumbf–k controversy. He’s basically putting out a “no a–holes” sign on the door of his bar and I hope LGBTQ peeps feel safe there. Garth has always been a great ally – his late sister was a gay woman, and he was an early supporter of gay marriage, he’s performed at LGBTQ-equality fundraisers, he sang a duet with George Michael and more. Trisha is the same. (Oh, and Garth and Trisha are also Democrats!)

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.