Axl Rose Accused of Sexual Assault From 1989 Incident
A former model named Sheila Kennedy is accusing Axl Rose of sexually assaulting her in New York back in 1989, according to Rolling Stone. She filed a lawsuit against him Wednesday morning in New York. Kennedy is a former Penthouse model and was Penthouse‘s Pet of the Year in 1983. In the suit, she says that she met the Guns N’ Roses leader at a New York club in 1989 when she was around 26. She alleges that on the night they met, Rose violently sexually assaulted her in his hotel room.
Rolling Stone says that a friend of Kennedy’s invited her to a club to try to meet the members of Guns N Roses; she met Rose at the club and he invited her to come back to his hotel for a party. The friend wasn’t invited back because, allegedly, Rose said she wasn’t “hot enough.” She went back to the hotel with him, another model, and Riki Rachtman. Rachtman would soon become the host of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball. As has been widely reported over the years, Rachtman’s friendship with Rose helped him to get the hosting job. Rachtman didn’t offer any comment to Rolling Stone or any other outlet at press time. Nor has Rose.
New York’s Adult Survivors Act
According to CNN, Kennedy is suing for an unspecified amount. Although the incident took place more than three decades ago, Kennedy’s lawsuit was filed under the pretense of New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which went into effect in late November 2022. The law allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their abusers in New York – even if the statute of limitations on their claims has expired. The law has given adult survivors of sexual assault one year to file lawsuits against their perpetrators and is set to expire on November 24. The Washington Post reports that the suit claims Kennedy has felt PTSD-like symptoms “whenever she hears Rose’s name or the music of Guns N’ Roses” due to the incident.
