Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose, actor Jamie Foxx and New York City mayor Eric Adams have been accused of sexual assault as a law which allows historical lawsuits is set to expire.
A former Penthouse magazine model sued Rose, accusing him of sexually assaulting her in a New York City hotel room in 1989.
Sheila Kennedy, 61, filed the lawsuit in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which lets victims sue over attacks that happened decades ago. The law expires on Friday.
Image: Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose
More than 2,500 lawsuits have been filed so far under the act.
Many of the lawsuits have targeted individuals, employers or institutions, accusing them of not doing enough to stop abuse.
But the vast majority have been filed against the state, New York City and local counties and involve allegations of abuse at state prisons and local jails.
Ms Kennedy alleged Rose violently attacked her 34 years ago, which resulted in a diagnosis of “anxiety and depression”.
She said Rose used his “fame, status, and power” as a music star to “gain access to manipulate, control, and violently sexually assault” her, the lawsuit claims.
Attorney Alan S Gutman said in a statement on behalf of Rose: “Simply put, this incident never happened. 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 favour.”
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Mayor Eric Adams has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman 30 years ago.
Adams, a Democrat, was a New York City police officer who rose to the rank of captain before entering politics. He served as a state senator and Brooklyn borough president before becoming mayor.
Details of the alleged assault in New York have not been released.
The legal action, filed at the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, seeks a trial and $5m (£4m) in relief.
A City Hall spokesman said in a statement: “The mayor does not know who this person is. If they ever met, he doesn’t recall it. But he would never do anything to physically harm another person and vigorously denies any such claim.”
Hollywood star accused of 2015 assault
Jamie Foxx was also sued under the act on Wednesday by a woman who accused the Hollywood star of sexual assaulting her at a New York rooftop lounge in 2015.
The lawsuit alleges Foxx made comments such as “wow, you have that super model body” while at Catch NYC and rooftop, before later grabbing the woman by the arm and pulling her to the “secluded” back of the rooftop.
Image: Jamie Foxx in 2020
She alleged there was “heinous touching and sexual assault” which has resulted in “severe emotional distress and anxiety” as well as post-traumatic stress disorder.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, is also suing Catch NYC and its owner Mark Birnbaum, alleging they were “negligent” and “failed to use reasonable care to prevent the acts described” in the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Foxx has been approached for comment.
The allegations against Rose, Adams and Foxx are the latest in a string of lawsuits filed under New York’s expiring Adult Survivors Act.
On Tuesday, American writer and filmmaker A.M. Lukas accused White Lines actor Nuno Lopes of drugging and raping her in 2006.
Image: Actor Nuno Lopes. Pic: AP
Lopes denied any wrongdoing and said he would not be afraid to take legal action against anyone who tried to defame him.
Several lawsuits filed before law expires
Also on Tuesday a woman accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually abusing her after offering to mentor her in her acting career – joining more than 60 women who have accused him of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
He has denied all allegations involving sex crimes.
A spokesperson for Cosby, 86, declined to comment but suggested the historical windows in place for these lawsuits in New York and elsewhere should be closed because they were being used to target wealthy celebrities, asking: “When is it going to stop?”
Photographer Terry Richardson, who was effectively blacklisted by the fashion world in 2017 after multiple rape and sexual assault allegations, had a new lawsuit filed against him on Tuesday by Spanish model Minerva Portillo.
Image: Terry Richardson. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, music industry veteran Jimmy Iovine was sued by a woman who claims she was sexually abused, forcibly touched and subject to sexual harassment and retaliation in August 2017.
Image: Record producer Jimmy Iovine
A spokesperson for Iovine said they were “quite shocked and baffled” by the alleged claim, adding: “This inquiry is the first we’ve heard of this matter. No one has ever made a claim like this against Jimmy Iovine, nor have we been contacted or made aware of any complaint by anyone, including this unknown plaintiff prior to now.”
Oscar-winning actor sued by two women
Also on Wednesday Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr was sued by two women whose sexual assault accusations against the star formed the basis of a criminal prosecution that ended with him pleading guilty in April 2022 but serving no jail time.
Image: Actor Cuba Gooding Jr in court after he pleaded guilty
Lawyers who have represented Gooding in civil and criminal litigation over his alleged sexual misconduct did not respond to requests for comment.
The UK and US have agreed a trade deal, with Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump confirming the announcement during a live televised phone call.
It is the first trade deal agreed after Mr Trump began his second presidential term in January, and after he imposed strict tariffs on countries around the world in April.
Sir Keir said the “first-of-a-kind” deal with the US will save thousands of jobs across the UK, boost British business and protect British industry.
• Lowering 27.5% tariff on British car exports to the US to 10%, affecting 100,000 vehicles each year
• UK steel and aluminium industries will no longer face any tariffs after they had 25% duties placed on them
• Beef exports allowed both ways
• UK to have “preferential treatment whatever happens in the future” on pharmaceuticals, the president said.
However, there is a still a 10% tariff on most UK goods imported into the US after Mr Trump imposed that duty on most countries’ exports last month.
Mr Trump said the “final details” of the agreement were still being “written up”.
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Watch full call with Trump and Starmer
Trade minister Douglas Alexander told parliament the UK has “committed to further negotiations on tariff reductions”.
MPs will be able to debate the deal and any legislation needed to implement it, he added.
Sir Keir said “this is a really fantastic, historic day” that will “boost trade between and across our countries”, while Mr Trump said the agreement would be a “great deal for both countries”.
The president said the deal will make both the UK and the US “much bigger in terms of trade” as he thanked Sir Keir, who he said has been “terrific for his partnership in this matter…we have a great relationship”.
Sir Keir said it was achieved by not playing politics, and insisted the UK can have good trade relations with both the US and the EU.
Red lines on beef and chicken
The PM said the UK had “red lines” on standards written into the agreement, particularly on agriculture.
Mr Alexander told the Commons: “Let me be clear that the imports of hormone-treated beef or chlorinated chicken will remain illegal.
“The deal we’ve signed today will protect British farmers and uphold our high animal welfare and environmental standards.”
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Sky challenges Trump on trade deal
‘American beef is the safest’
US agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins said the deal will “exponentially increase our beef exports”, and added: “To be very clear, American beef is the safest, the best quality, and the crown jewel of American agriculture for the world.”
On whether the UK will have to accept all US beef and chicken, Mr Trump said: “They’ll take what they want, we have plenty of it, we have every type, we have every classification you can have.”
Hinting the US will move towards higher welfare practices, he said US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr “is doing a tremendous job and he’s probably heading toward your system with no chemical, no this, no that”.
‘A Diet Coke deal’
Previous UK governments have attempted – and failed – to secure a free trade agreement with the US, but Sir Keir had made it a high priority.
Conservative shadow trade secretary Andrew Griffith chastised the deal, saying the UK is still in the same category as Burundi and Bhutan.
“It’s a Diet Coke deal, not the real thing,” he told the Commons.
A man has been charged after allegedly harassing Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston for two years before crashing his car through the front gate of her home, prosecutors have said.
Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, of New Albany, Mississippi, is accused of having repeatedly sent the Friends star unwanted voicemail, email and social media messages since 2023.
The 48-year-old is then alleged to have crashed his grey Chrysler PT Cruiser through the front gate of Aniston’s home in the wealthy Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles early on Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors said the collision caused major damage.
Police have said Aniston was at home at the time.
A security guard stopped Carwyle on her driveway before police arrived and arrested him.
There were no reports of anyone being injured.
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Carwyle has been charged with felony stalking and vandalism, prosecutors said on Thursday.
He also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm, Los Angeles County district attorney Nathan Hochman said.
Carwyle, who has been held in jail since his arrest on Monday, is set to appear in court on Thursday.
His bail has been set at $150,000 dollars (£112,742).
He is facing up to three years in prison if he is convicted as charged.
“My office is committed to aggressively prosecuting those who stalk and terrorise others, ensuring they are held accountable,” Mr Hochman said in a statement.
Aniston bought her mid-century mansion in Bel Air on a 3.4-acre site for about 21 million dollars (£15.78m) in 2012, according to reporting by Architectural Digest.
She became one of the biggest stars on television in her 10 years on NBC’s Friends.
Aniston won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more.
She has appeared in several Hollywood films and currently stars in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.
Image: The defendants hugged each other after being acquitted of the charges. Pic: Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network/AP
The 29-year-old’s death and a video of the incident – in which he cried out for his mother – sparked outrage in the US including nationwide protests and led to police reform.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nichols’ family, described the verdicts as a “devastating miscarriage of justice”. In a statement, he added: “The world watched as Tyre Nichols was beaten to death by those sworn to protect and serve.”
Memphis District Attorney Steve Mulroy said he was “surprised that there wasn’t a single guilty verdict on any of the counts” including second-degree murder. He said Mr Nichols’ family “were devastated… I think they were outraged”.
Image: Former police officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith were accused of second-degree murder. Pic: Memphis Police Dept/AP
But despite the three defendants being acquitted of state charges during the trial in Memphis, they still face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges of witness tampering last year.
Two other former officers previously pleaded guilty in both state and federal court. Desmond Mills Jr. gave evidence as a prosecution witness, while Emmitt Martin was blamed for the majority of the violence.
Sentencing for all five officers is pending.
Image: Tyre Nichols’ death sparked street protests in January 2023 in Memphis and across the US. Pic: AP
Video evidence showed Mr Nichols was stopped in his car, yanked from his vehicle, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. He broke free and ran away before the five police officers caught up with him again, and the beating took place.
Prosecutors argued that the officers used excessive, deadly force in trying to handcuff Mr Nichols and were criminally responsible for each others’ actions.
They also said the officers had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medics that Mr Nichols had been hit repeatedly in the head, but they failed to do so.
The trial heard Mr Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain and died from blunt force trauma.
The defence suggested Mr Nichols was on drugs, giving him the strength to fight off five strong officers, and was actively resisting arrest.
In December, the US Justice Department said a 17-month investigation showed the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.