Rapper TI and his wife Tiny denied the sexual abuse allegations of three women, increasing the denials earlier this year after four other women made similar accusations.
On Friday, New York attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn announced that he was “talking to investigators in various jurisdictions to pursue criminal charges” after the new allegations.
A woman claims that in 2010, the couple forced her to use drugs and then took her to a hotel to have sex where “she couldn’t consent”. Another woman claims that TI, real name Clifford Harris, and a friend, drugged and raped her in a hotel room, also in 2010. The third woman claims she was drugged and “sexually trafficked in Nevada, California and Florida.”
In a statement to Billboard, the couple’s lawyer Steve Sadow said: “The Harris are still waiting for the accusers to reveal themselves publicly. By continuing to hide behind anonymous allegations, unidentified accusers effectively become unreliable and untrustworthy. We say: let the light shine on your identities so that we can continue to refute these crude accusations. “
TI was once one of the most popular rappers in the United States, marking eight albums in the Top 10, three of them reaching first place between 2006 and 2008. He also has a successful acting career, appearing in Marvel’s Ant-Man franchise and more , and has starred in several reality TV shows.
Tiny, also known as Tameka Harris, was a member of the R&B group Xscape, also known for co-writing the TLC hit No Scrubs. She and TI married in 2010 and filed for divorce in 2016, but were reconciled the following year.
In March, four women accused the Harrises of drugging and sexually assaulting them. Two of them reported the alleged abuse, in each case in 2005, to the New York Times. One claims that she was invited to the couple’s VIP area in a nightclub where her drink was fortified, leaving her incapacitated when the couple subsequently sexually assaulted her in a hotel room.
Another woman claims that the couple “forced her to engage in sexual acts with different women against her will” after forcing her to become ecstatic. She claimed that other women told her “about being kidnapped and held against their will for days at a time.” Both women said they had been threatened with violence if they talked about the alleged attacks. Blackburn said he was representing 11 people in all, who said they were victims of the couple or members of their entourage.
Sadow said the couple “denied in the strongest possible terms these baseless and unjustified claims”, calling them “nothing more than the continuation of a sordid campaign of extinction that started on social media and now tries to manipulate the press and abuse the judicial system ”.
In January, stylist Sabrina Peterson claimed that TI once aimed a gun at her and subsequently posted a series of anonymous reports on Instagram of women who claimed the Harris had drugged and sexually assaulted them. The Harris said they “emphatically deny in the most vehement way possible the blatantly terrible accusations being brought against them by Sabrina Peterson”.
In the wake of the initial allegations, representatives of the #MeToo movement, Time’s Up and the National Women’s Law Center expressed support for the accusers, writing: we have room for you. We reaffirm our commitment to ending sexual violence. “