Allen has denied the accusations and vows to 'mount a vigorous defense.'
A woman has filed a lawsuit against country superstar Jimmie Allen claiming he raped her and repeatedly subjected her to sexual abuse and harassment over the course of 18 months as his day-to-day manager.
In a report published Thursday by Variety, the 37-year-old country crooner is accused of assaulting the woman, groping her breasts on a plane, pushing his erect penis against her body in public, masturbating in front of her at a hotel they both were staying at and forced his fingers into her vagina when she drove him to events.
The woman, who filed the lawsuit Thursday in Tennessee federal court and is identified only as "Jane Doe," tells Variety that during a work trip to Los Angeles in March 2021, Allen allegedly raped her following his appearance as a celebrity guest on American Idol. She claims that following a business dinner after that taping, she woke up naked in her hotel room in severe pain and bleeding vaginally. She said she didn't remember the encounter, only that she woke up next to Allen in bed next to her and that Allen allegedly told her to take a Plan B pill. Doe claims she lost her virginity that night.
"Allen sexually assaulted Plaintiff, while she was incapacitated and incapable of giving consent," the lawsuit states, via Variety. "She lost consciousness and awoke naked in her hotel room several hours later, with Jimmie Allen insisting she take Plan B as soon as possible."
When she alleged Allen groped her breasts on a plane and masturbated in front of her at a hotel they were both staying at, Doe claims those incidents happened in the 24 hours leading up to his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in May 2021. She also claimed Allen forced her hand onto his crotch while backstage at The Late, Late Show With James Corden, and that he allegedly groped her and pounced on her in the greenroom during rehearsals for his special guest appearance at Carrie Underwood's The Denim & Rhinestones Tour.
She also claimed Allen videotaped multiple sexual encounters "to blackmail her to stay silent," according to legal docs obtained by Variety, and that he repeatedly called and texted her while Allen was on his honeymoon in the Maldives. And, ahead of his Rose Parade performance for New Year's 2022, Doe visited Allen's home in Tennessee to deliver COVID tests and allegedly forced her into having sex at his home while his infant daughter was in the next room.
The woman is also suing her former employer, Wide Open Music (the management firm that discovered Allen in 2016), as well as the firm's founder, Ash Bowers, claiming the management company and Bowers were negligent. Doe claims she reported Allen's alleged verbal harassment to her boss on numerous occasions and it was only after she told Bowers that Allen allegedly raped her that Wide Open Music dropped Allen as a client, a move that quietly happened in late 2022. Bowers says the company has since gotten out of the artist representation business. Allen signed with a boutique management firm in December 2022.
Bowers tells Variety that he was unaware of "the existence of a sexual or physical relationship" between Allen and Doe until she told him about ongoing alleged physical sexual abuse during an October 2022 meeting, which was more than a year and a half after she alleged the abuse started.
Doe, however, claims Bowers warned her about Allen's alleged behavior during the hiring process (she was hired in April 2020), allegedly telling her that Allen "was known to push inappropriate sexual boundaries" and that Allen's "promiscuous but harmless."
"I didn’t think that meant predator,” Doe tells Variety. "I didn’t think that meant Jimmie would be a threat to me."
Amid the allegations, Allen is also now in divorce proceedings nearly a month after separating from his pregnant wife, Alexis Gale, whom he currently shares two children with.
In a statement to ET provided by his attorney, Allen admits to having had a "sexual relationship" with the woman suing him, but claims it was consensual for nearly two years. He also vows to "mount a vigorous defense" to Doe's claims.
"It is deeply troubling and hurtful that someone I counted as one of my closest friends, colleagues and confidants would make allegations that have no truth to them whatsoever," the statement reads. "I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship -- one that lasted for nearly two years. During that time she never once accused me of any wrongdoing, and she spoke of our relationship and friendship as being something she wanted to continue indefinitely."
The statement continued, "Only after things ended between us, did she hire a lawyer to reach out and ask for money, which leads me to question her motives. The simple fact is, her accusations are not only false, but also extremely damaging. I’ve worked incredibly hard to build my career, and I intend to mount a vigorous defense to her claims and take all other legal action necessary to protect my reputation."
Doe's lawyers deny ever demanding money, telling Variety that "the only ask we made of Allen and his legal counsel was to meet to discuss Allen’s behavior and resolution of our client’s claims. At no time did our client make a monetary demand. The response was a hard no, and colored with threats that his team would take steps to publicly tarnish my client. My client had no choice but to be proactive in protecting herself by filing the complaint."
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