Garth Brooks’s fans defended the country music superstar after a former makeup artist filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him on Thursday.
The makeup artist worked for Brooks’s wife, country music singer Trisha Yearwood, 60.
Brooks is pictured with Trisha Yearwood in a photo dated May 11, 2023. She is reportedly standing by her husband amid the accusations.
The makeup artist filed the lawsuit anonymously as “Jane Roe.” She submitted screenshots of redacted text messages as part of the lawsuit.
One text message read: “And that huge stick you carry! Roo-sevelt!!”
“I’ll take that nick-name. Thank you. I love you,” Brooks replied, along with laughing and heart emojis.
According to the court documents, Brooks allegedly “used more than one cell phone, and sometimes would use different ‘names’ and email addresses to communicate with Ms. Roe. He would tell Ms. Roe ahead of time that it would be him sending her communications, under a different name.”
“[Garth] sent [Jane] sexually explicit text messages and pressured her to engage in sexting with him,” the lawsuit read.
The complaint claimed Brooks deleted most of the text messages from Jane Roe’s cell phone.
The woman’s attorneys at Wigdor LLP issued a statement to DailyMail.com, complaining that he named her in court documents “out of spite.”
“Garth Brooks just revealed his true self. Out of spite and to punish, he publicly named a rape victim. With no legal justification, Brooks outed her because he thinks the laws don’t apply to him.”
“On behalf of our client, we will be moving for maximum sanctions against him immediately,” the statement read.
Brooks is pictured performing at a benefit concert with his wife, Trisha Yearwood in 2021.
Brooks’s fans said the text messages sounded like a friendly and consensual exchange between two adults.
One person wrote in the comment section on DailyMail.com: “The texts sound friendly and consensual. She accused him publicly, using his name, he had the right to do the same. If she’s serious about her claims she should be filing criminal charges and not a lawsuit.”
Another person wrote: “Having an extramarital yet fully consensual affair is not the same thing as sexual assault. Unless there are explicit and clear pieces of evidence not being made public at this time, this seems by all available appearances to just be a regular, garden-variety cheating situation at worst. Not great for the partner being cheated on, but also not sinister. I myself am a victim of sexual assault and I fully support fellow victims as they come forward with their stories – but it is entirely too easy to completely ruin an innocent person’s reputation today. I’m not a huge fan of Mr. Brooks but I’m not going to believe he is guilty of wrongdoing just because a random woman comes forward with some texts where BOTH parties are talking dirty equally.”
A third person added: “Very well stated. I fully agree and hope the justice system does too.”
