An Air Force veteran who previously claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted by rapper T.I. and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, sued the couple in Los Angeles late Tuesday.
The Jane Doe plaintiff says she was around 22 or 23 years old and stationed in Los Angeles in 2005 when she attended a party at Coolio’s house and met a man who purportedly worked for the Atlanta rapper and his wife. She alleges the man, who went by the name Caviar, helped facilitate a meeting with the couple at a club the following night. She claims once she was in the VIP section, Tiny handed her a drink she believes was spiked.
According to the 15-page lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone, Doe says she was separated from her friend and ended up alone in a hotel room with T.I. and Tiny, who were a couple but not yet married at the time. She alleges T.I., whose legal name is Clifford Harris, began issuing demands with “explicit detail,” like he was “reciting a script.” She claims Tiny stripped her naked and got into a shower with her. She alleges she was “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and appeared “visibly drugged” when T.I. directed her to the bed. She claims T.I. turned on a pornographic movie to get aroused as Tiny held her face down.
“While Tiny was straddled on Plaintiff’s back and pinning her down, T.I. then proceeded to slide his toes into Plaintiff’s vagina,” the filing reads. “Plaintiff told him ‘No’ (and) tried to move T.I. out of her and away from her. T.I. then said he would go get a condom and Tiny continued to arouse herself by grinding on Plaintiff and massaging her backside. Plaintiff grew increasingly sicker and felt extremely ill by the assault and battery she was experiencing.”
The woman alleges she eventually forced herself to get up and vomited in the bathroom. She claims T.I. then mocked her by saying, “Are you all right? … Looks like you in last place.” She alleges she passed out and noticed she was in “serious pain” the next morning when a security guard demanded that she leave the room where T.I. and Tiny were sleeping.
“Forcing someone, in this case by way of drugs, into doing something of a sexual nature they don’t want to is sexual battery — rape,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Rodney Diggs, tells Rolling Stone. “Even after all these years, the embarrassment, shame, depression — it still lingers. Silencing women silences justice. No longer will my client remain silent; we are now seeking justice for her and everyone who has been similarly violated.”
The lawsuit was filed under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, and offered a one-year “look-back” window to file lawsuits in cases of alleged sexual abuse with expired statues of limitations and allegations of a cover-up. (Some cases were allowed to be filed on Tuesday since the law expired during a holiday weekend.)
T.I. and Tiny vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to Rolling Stone. “On the heels of positivity, negativity always rears its ugly head. This plaintiff has been threatening to file this lawsuit for THREE years. For THREE years, we have emphatically and categorically denied these allegations,” they said. “For THREE years we have maintained our innocence and refused to pay these extortionate demands for things we didn’t do. For THREE years, we’ve maintained the same position while the claims in this story have changed time and time again. Our position is clear. We are innocent of these fake claims, we will not be shaken down, and we look forward to our day in court.”
The Air Force veteran previously stepped forward in 2021, when multiple women accused T.I. and Tiny of victimization. The Los Angeles County District Attorney considered her claims but declined to file any charges, saying the alleged incident was outside the 10-year statute of limitations.
New York-based lawyer Tyrone Blackburn also represents the Air Force veteran and several other women who allege T.I. and Tiny sexually assaulted them. Together, Blackburn and Diggs are the attorneys for Sabrina Peterson, a former friend who alleges T.I. once held a gun to her head and said, “Bitch, I’ll kill you,” after she got into an argument with his assistant. Peterson sued the couple for defamation in 2021, saying their joint statement denying her allegations harmed her reputation.
Peterson’s lawsuit is set for a trial later this year. Meanwhile, the deluge of allegations against the couple led MTV Entertainment to pull the plug on their VH1 reality series, T.I. and Tiny: Friends and Family Hustle.