Axl Rose Settles Sexual Assault Lawsuit
Axl Rose has settled a sexual assault lawsuit brought against him in November 2023 by former Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy.
Rose told Rolling Stone in a statement, “As I have from the beginning, I deny the allegations. There was no assault.”
Rose’s attorney E. Sanya Perry said in a separate statement, “Mr. Rose has suffered greatly from this lawsuit, and I am pleased that he will now be able to move on with his life.”
Rolling Stone notes the lawsuit was discontinued with prejudice, which means this lawsuit cannot be re-filed in the future.
As previously reported, Kennedy filed her lawsuit against Rose in New York. In the lawsuit, Kennedy claims she met Rose in a New York nightclub in 1989. Shortly thereafter, Kennedy alleges Rose sexually assaulted her in his hotel room.
After Kennedy initially filed her lawsuit, Rose’s legal team filed court documents in response to Kennedy’s lawsuit refuting her claims. The documents cited Kennedy’s 2016 memoir No One’s Pet, in which she described her encounter with Rose as consensual. Particularly, the documents quote the following passage: “I was okay with this. I had wanted to be with him since the minute I’d first laid eyes on him, and now I was getting him.”
Additionally, Rose’s legal team cited a 2021 documentary titled Look Away, where Kennedy recalled meeting Rose and specifically said their sexual encounter was “consensual.”
Axl Rose, Kennedy’s Lawsuit & New York’s Adult Survivors Act
asdDespite the incident between Kennedy and Rose happening in 1989, her lawsuit was filed under the pretense of New York’s Adult Survivors Act. This law went into effect in November 2022. It allowed adult survivors one year to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers, even after the statute of limitations expired. The law expired on November 24, 2023.
The New York Adult Survivors Act resulted in a number of celebrities being sued for sexual assault and other charges. Per the Associated Press, those celebrities included Sean “Diddy” Combs,” Jamie Foxx, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Steven Tyler, Russell Brand and Mike Tyson.
One of the lawsuits filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act was from former Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll against now President-elect Donald Trump. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defaming Carroll. Per The Hill, this resulted in Trump being ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
This was Carroll’s second lawsuit against Trump. Her first lawsuit was filed in November 2019. However, according to The Hill, it was held up and delayed after the Trump administration’s Justice Department got involved. In July 2023, the Justice Department stepped away from the lawsuit, and it went to trial. In January 2024, a second jury ordered President Trump to pay Carroll in damages of $83.3 million for defamation when she initially came forward in June 2019 with her accusations of sexual assault.
