Jack Barakat, Alex Gaskarth, Zack Merrick and Rian Dawson state in the lawsuit that they 'utilize the civil court system to identify the culprits, prove that the defamatory statements are false.'
- Feb 4, 2022
AceShowbiz - All Time Low have launched legal action against their sexual abuse accusers. The four members of the rock band reportedly filed a libel lawsuit to find out the identities of three people who brought up the allegations.
The group filed the lawsuit on Thursday, February 3 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The nine-page complaint states that band members Jack Barakat, Alex Gaskarth, Zack Merrick and Rian Dawson "are the victims of defamatory social media posts falsely and maliciously accusing them of sexual abuse and knowingly enabling such illegal conduct."
The suit notes that the group plans to "utilize discovery including subpoenas to uncover the identities of those that defamed them." It further reads, "[We have] no choice but to mobilize and utilize the civil court system to identify the culprits, prove that the defamatory statements are false, and seek justice."
There are three defendants in the lawsuit. The first one is Doe 1, who shared two TikTok videos in October 2021 in which she claimed she had been invited onto a pop-punk band's tour bus when she was just 13 years old. The group allegedly offered her beer on a tour bus and asked for her bra "for their nasty collection." While she didn't reveal the band's name in the video, she alluded to All Time Low in the comments.
The second defendant is referred to as Doe 2 in the docs. Doe 2 accused guitarist Barakat of sexually abusing her in 2011 when she was 15 and he was 22. Noting that the relationship continued for years until 2016, the woman further alleged that another band member witnessed her being sexually assaulted.
The last one is Doe 3, who collected other allegations about All Time Low and posted them on Twitter. She claimed that she had counted 97 allegations against All Time Low, which the group vehemently denied.
The band itself has previously shut down the accusations. "The allegations being brought against us are absolutely and unequivocally false," the group said in a statement. "When a TikTok video gained traction a few weeks ago alluding to inappropriate behaviour within our camp, we chose not to respond because of the glaring inconsistencies in the story and the apparent reluctance to mention us by name."
"We felt that a response would have elevated and escalated an outright lie and in doing so robbed actual victims of abuse of their very real and very important collective voice," they added. "We believe victims. We stand with victims. We have only ever wanted to cultivate and nurture a culture around our show and band that is welcoming, healthy, and safe."
