Heavy/Getty Details are developing on latest lawsuit filed against country star Jimmie Allen
For the second time in less than a month, “American Idol” alumni and celebrity mentor Jimmie Allen has been sued for sexual assault. According to court documents reviewed by Heavy, an accuser who wished to remain anonymous filed a lawsuit in Tennessee federal court on June 9, 2023, claiming that the country star not only continued their sexual encounter against her will after she asked him to stop, but also secretly filmed the assault. The new lawsuit comes after a whirlwind of bad news for the Grammy-nominated artist.
In mid-April, Allen and his wife, Alexis Gale, shared since-deleted Instagram posts to announce their separation and that they were expecting a third child together. On April 28, the couple quietly filed for divorce, according to Entertainment Tonight.
Less than two weeks later, on May 11, Variety revealed that Allen was being sued by his day-to-day manager for assault and sexual abuse. Allen denied any allegations of wrongdoing, per E! News, but admitted to having a sexual relationship with the woman, who was named “Jane Doe” in the filing.
In addition to watching his marriage implode, Allen’s record label, BBR Music Group, quickly decided to “suspend all activity with him, effective immediately,” per Billboard. Allen was also pulled from the CMA Fest lineup and dropped by his public relations agency, booking agency and new management company. Many of his summer concerts have also been canceled, too. Hours after news broke of the second lawsuit, according to Variety, BBR officially dropped him from the label, releasing a statement to say it no longer represents him.
New Accuser Took Jimmie Allen’s Phone & Turned It Into Police
GettyJimmie Allen and his wife Alexis Gale attended the 2023 MusiCares Persons of the Year gala in February 2023
In the newly filed lawsuit reviewed by Heavy, a woman identified as “Jane Doe 2” says that she was approached by Allen on a flight in May 2022. Allen’s bodyguard later found her in the airport to ask for her phone number, the lawsuit states, and that night in Nashville, she and her friends met up with the musician “for a fun evening on the town.”
After that, Allen and the woman communicated via FaceTime and multiple texts a day, she alleges, after Allen told her that he and Gale had separated.
According to the lawsuit, Allen led Jane Doe 2 to believe he was “currently separated from his wife, he loved Plaintiff, he wanted to marry her and have children with her, and he thought she would be a good stepmother for his children.” After two months of long-distance communication, the two agreed to meet in Las Vegas in July 2022, while he was in town for multiple public appearances.
“Allen offered to pay for her trip,” the lawsuit states, “however, Plaintiff insisted that she pay for her own plane ticket and requested that Allen book her a separate hotel room.”
Once in Las Vegas, she accompanied him during eight hours of public appearances, during which Allen repeatedly introduced her as his “girlfriend,” the lawsuit states, adding that later that night at the hotel, Allen and his bodyguard “enticed Plaintiff to come to Allen’s hotel room while they waited for her room” to be ready.
Though Jane Doe 2 was initially willing to be intimate with Allen, the lawsuit alleges that she was clear that she wanted him to use a condom, and that she said she was never told that he would be filming their encounter. When “Allen told Plaintiff he wanted to get her pregnant,” the lawsuit states, “Plaintiff said no.”
The lawsuit claims that Jane Doe 2 repeatedly asked Allen to stop during their sexual interaction, but he would not. When Allen “passed out,” she tried to quietly escape but noticed a phone propped up in the closet, recording their interaction. She tried to wake him to get him to delete the video, the lawsuit claims.
“Crying, shaking, and in a panic, Plaintiff took the phone with her,” the lawsuit says, and then called a friend who helped her find a new hotel. Once she flew home from Vegas, she turned Allen’s phone into her local police department. Authorities there reported the incident to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, which has confirmed to People that a report was, indeed, filed.
Jane Doe 2 is now suing Allen for battery, assault, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. She is also suing his bodyguard and the company that his bodyguard worked for.
Lawyer Elizabeth Fegan, who specializes in representing victims of sexual abuse, now represents both women who have filed lawsuits against Allen. The second one decided to come forward after her friend heard news reports about the first. Fegan told Variety that detectives have contacted Jane Doe 2 to investigate. She also said she has heard from more accusers and suspects there will be additional lawsuits against Allen.
Jimmie Allen Denied First Round of Allegations
GettyJimmie Allen, Lionel Richie, and Smokey Robinson attend the 2022 American Music Awards in November 2022
After the first lawsuit was filed and became public in May, Allen deleted most of his Instagram posts, issued a public apology to Gale, and denied the allegations in the first lawsuit, which accused him of repeatedly assaulting the young woman who’d been hired as his day-to-day manager, including raping her during a trip to Los Angeles in March 2021 after he filmed an episode of “American Idol” as a celebrity guest, per Variety.
Allen was originally a contestant on “American Idol” during Season 10 in 2011, and though he was eliminated before the live rounds, he became close with fellow contestant Scotty McCreery, who eventually won the season. McCreery brought Allen on his 2018 concert tour as his opening act, per Taste of Country, and Allen eventually landed his own record deal. In recent years, he has been featured on “Idol” as a performer and, in 2022, as a celebrity mentor to contestants.
In March, he wrapped up many months of opening for “Idol” winner Carrie Underwood on her “Denim & Rhinestones” tour, during which they frequently appeared together onstage for a duet and choreographed dance.
Before their last show in Seattle on March, Music Mayhem Magazine reported that she wrote in her Instagram stories, “I’m sitting in our dressing room right now before our very last show on the Denim & Rhinestones Tour. It’s very bittersweet and it’s been an absolutely incredible run that we’ve had. The fans have been amazing beyond words. Thank you to the band, crew and Jimmie Allen, his people.”
Weeks later, after Allen was hit with the first sexual assault lawsuit in May, he issued a statement denying all wrongdoing, per E! News.
“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,” he said in the statement. “I acknowledge that we had a sexual relationship—one that lasted for nearly two years.”
Despite the swift implosion of his music career and personal life, Billboard reported that on May 17, Allen upload an Instagram Story that read, ““We Gonna Be Alright … This Too Shall Pass.” Allen has since posted periodic song clips and, on June 1, a photo of him doing a yoga pose on a large rock next to Lake Tahoe in Nevada. At the time of publication, he had not publicly addressed the latest lawsuit.