Garth Brooks Performs Amid Sexual Assault Lawsuit: 'Needed This'

The show must go on for Garth Brooks. Hours after the country singer was hit with a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and battery on Thursday, October 3, he returned to the stage for a scheduled performance of his Garth Brooks/Plus ONE residency in Las Vegas.

Following the show, he took to Instagram to express his gratitude to the fans who showed up, as well as those who have supported him from afar. “If there was ever a night that I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night!” he captioned a photo of himself on stage. “Thank you for my life!!!!! love, g.” 

A woman identified as “Jane Roe” filed the lawsuit against Garth, 62, in a state court in California. She claimed to have worked for the “Friends in Low Places” singer as a hair and makeup artist and accused him of raping her during a work trip in 2019.

Jane Roe previously worked for Garth’s wife, Trisha Yearwood, and started doing Garth’s hair and makeup in 2017, according to the lawsuit. In addition to alleging rape, Jane also alleged that Garth sent her explicit texts and exposed himself in front of her. During one alleged incident, Jane claimed that Garth got out of the shower and “forced” her hands onto his genitals while she was at his home for work. 

Garth vehemently denied Jane Roe’s accusations and claimed that she had been trying to blackmail him for two months before filing her lawsuit. “For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face,” he said in a statement to Us Weekly.

He continued, “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another. We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character. We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides.”

The award winner concluded, “I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart [that] these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

CNN reported that Garth wrote in his anonymous lawsuit, “[Jane Roe’s] allegations are not true. [Jane Roe] is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to [Garth’s] well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to ‘publicly file’ her fabricated lawsuit.’”

In response to the anonymous lawsuit, Jane Roe’s lawyers told CNN, “[Garth’s] efforts to silence our client through the filing of a preemptive complaint in Mississippi was nothing other than an act of desperation and attempted intimidation. We are confident that Brooks will be held accountable for his actions. We applaud our client’s courage in moving forward with her complaint against Garth Brooks. The complaint filed today demonstrates that sexual predators exist not only in corporate America, Hollywood and in the rap and rock and roll industries but also in the world of country music.”

If you or anyone you know has been sexually abused, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). A trained staff member will provide confidential, judgment-free support as well as local resources to assist in healing, recovering and more.