Content warning: This article contains explicit descriptions of sexual assault.
Guns N’ Roses lead vocalist Axl Rose is alleged to have committed sexual assault in New York in 1989, according to a lawsuit filed by former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy in New York Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 22. Rolling Stone obtained the lawsuit.
As per the lawsuit, Kennedy recalls meeting Rose when she was around 26 years old in 1989 at a New York nightclub. Rose is alleged to have “violently sexually assaulted” Kennedy in his hotel room on the night they met.
Rolling Stone provided additional details from that night from Kennedy’s lawsuit:
“At Rose’s hotel room, according to the suit, Rose plied the guests with cocaine, champagne, and other alcohol. After Kennedy went to the bathroom, Rose was allegedly waiting outside the door, and when she exited, Rose ‘pushed Kennedy 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 suit said. However, she says she did not consent to the alleged sexual encounter with Rose that would happen later that evening.”
The lawsuit goes on the give a blow-by-blow of what allegedly happened before the alleged sexual assault, including Kennedy witnessing Rose have sex with another model in an “aggressive” way that “appeared painful for the model” and made Kennedy “uncomfortable.”
At one point, Rose allegedly “was encouraging group sex” and got visibly and vocally angry at the model he’d had sex with, calling her a “wh*re.” Rose found Kennedy in Ricki Rachtman’s room and “allegedly pushed Kennedy down to the floor.”
Again, Rolling Stone provided the full context:
“‘While Kennedy was on the ground, Rose grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the suite back to his bedroom,’ the suit said, adding that her knees were bleeding after they scraped the rug. When they got to his room, the suit alleged, Rose threw her on the bed onto her stomach, grabbed pantyhose and tied her hands behind her back.
“At that point, Kennedy, with her hands tied behind her back, was locked in the bedroom, bleeding, and vulnerable with Rose alone while he was in a sexual, volatile rage,’ the suit alleged. ‘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 and locked her in. Kennedy was trapped.’ Rose then forcibly penetrated Kennedy’s anus with his penis, the suit alleged.”
As per People, Rose denied all allegations via a statement from his attorney, Alan S. Gutman.
“Simply put, this incident never happened,” Gutman said in a statement. “Notably, these fictional claims were filed the day before the New York State filing deadline expires. 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.”
As alluded to in Gutman’s statement, New York’s Adult Survivors Act expires at midnight (November 23). The law was enacted by New York Governor Kathy Hochul in May 2022 and, as explained by Billboard, “created a one-year window for alleged survivors to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations.”
The New York Post reports that “more than 2,600 lawsuits” have been filed under The Adult Survivors Act.
Also on Wednesday, a summons for Jimmy Iovine was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County — alleging “sexual misconduct and abuse” dating back to August 2007 (as first reported by Pitchfork). Last week, Cassie filed a multi-pronged lawsuit against Diddy in Manhattan Federal District Court. Diddy denied the allegations but settled with Cassie within 24 hours.