Axl Rose, vocalist of hard rock titans Guns N’ Roses, has settled the sexual assault lawsuit that was filed against him in November of 2023. The suit was filed by ex-Penthouse model Sheila Kennedy over an incident alleged to have taken place back in 1989. In her original suit, Kennedy alleged that Rose had forcibly dragged her by the hair back to his room from a neighboring room in a NY hotel.
The suit alleged that Rose then tied her hands behind her back with panyhose, before forcibly penetrating her anus. That suit went onto claim:
“He treated her like property used solely for his sexual pleasure. He did not use a condom. Kennedy did not consent and felt overpowered. She felt she had no escape or exit and was compelled to acquiesce. She believed Rose would physically attack her, or worse, if she said no or attempted to push him away. She understood that the safest thing to do was to lie in bed and wait for Rose to finish assaulting her.”
Several months later in March of this year, Rose sought to have the suit dismissed, citing conflicting accounts of what transpired, including a passage from Kennedy‘s own 2016 memoir. Rose‘s legal team argued:
“In her 2016 self-authored memoir, No One’s Pet, Kennedy described the alleged incident in the Complaint as consensual sex, and specifically noted: ‘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.'”
In her suit she listed assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and gender-motivated violence as causes of action. Rose for his part denied the incident ever took place. Rolling Stone, now report that the suit has since been settled out of court.
The terms of that arrangement were not disclosed. However, in a statement provided to the aforementioned publication, Rose maintained his innocence, offering: “As I have from the beginning, I deny the allegations. There was no assault.”
Rose‘s lawyer E. Danya Perry added: “Mr. Rose has suffered greatly from this lawsuit, and I am pleased that he will now be able to move on with his life.” The settlement finds the case being discontinued with prejudice, meaning it can’t be revived down the line. Furthermore, Rolling Stone note that that the two parties agreed to cover their own legal costs.
The suit was filed during the the limited window of last year’s adult survivors act. That initiative enabled alleged victims of sexual assault to file suit against their attackers without being blocked by the standard statute of limitations imposed upon such claims.
