Photo: Ron Adar / Shutterstock
The DJ is facing several lawsuits.
By Alice Kelly — Written on Jul 08, 2021
DJ and music producer Diplo, whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz, has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit filed by a woman who claims he took advantage of her during a 2019 incident.
What did Diplo do?
According to details laid out in the lawsuit, Diplo is being accused of plying a woman with alcohol and marijuana before coercing her into performing oral sex on him in a Las Vegas hotel room as he filmed her without her consent.
Diplo’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called the allegations “outrageous” and claims the accusations are part of a shakedown with another woman who is also suing the DJ for assault.
These accusations are far from the first allegations of sexual misconduct Diplo has face.
Here is a look inside some of the sexual misconduct allegations against Diplo, which include sexual assault, revenge porn, and grooming.
List of Sexual Assault, Revenge Porn and Grooming Allegations Against Diplo
In 2020, Diplo was accused of ‘grooming’ TikTok star Quenlin Blackwell.
In October 2020, Diplo denied grooming allegations after receiving backlash for allegedly allowing then-19-year-old TikTok star Quenlin Blackwell to live in his home.
Blackwell posted a series of humorous TikToks about living with the now 42-year-old DJ, leading fans to raise concerns given their age gap.
Both Blackwell and Diplo insisted the relationship was platonic and nothing more.
"Diplo has given me the opportunity and the security to create," Blackwell wrote on Twitter at the time. "Diplo and his team are my mentors in LA and they are my safety net. Diplo and his team have saved me numerous times from the weirdos in L.A."
Diplo added that he does not live in the home with Blackwell but just uses a studio in the property.
Diplo was also accused of revenge porn and assault by Shelly Auguste around the same time.
The same month, a woman named Shelly Auguste tweeted a claim that Diplo “filmed her having sex without her permission and that he preys on young women.”
Auguste sought a restraining order against the DJ, alleging that he had illegally distributed nude images of her.
In the request, she claimed to have been contacted by Diplo in 2018 when she was 17 and he was 36.
Auguste claimed to have been “pressured” into losing her virginity to Diplo in 2019 before they eventually lost touch the following year. She added that Diplo later reached out to ask her to stop contacting Jevon King, the mother of his child, which she denies doing, and claims the DJ hired a private investigator to, “scare me into remaining silent about our relationship.”
Diplo’s lawyer denied the allegations on his client’s behalf, filing his own restraining order against Auguste. The restraining order she had previously been granted against him was eventually thrown out.
In May 2021, Diplo filed a lawsuit against Auguste for stalking, trespassing and distribution of private materials.
“Unfortunately, in spite of repeated requests to stop, this individual has continued to stalk and harass my client and his family for more than a year,” Freedman alleged.
And the following month, Auguste filed a lawsuit against Diplo, accusing him of sexual battery, assault, defamation and fraud.
In the lawsuit, she claims Diplo coerced her into having sex, failed to inform her he had an STI and attempted to coax her into having a threesome with a girl she believes was underage.
This week, a woman claimed Diplo coerced her into performing oral sex.
The most recent allegations against Diplo comes from an unnamed woman who claims the DJ coerced her into performing oral sex at an after party following one of his Las Vegas shows in 2019.
The woman claims she was given marijuana and alcohol before other attendees were ushered out of the room, leaving her alone with Diplo. She says a security guard punched a male friend of hers who initially refused to leave without her.
Diplo allegedly refused to allow the woman leave until she performed oral sex on him, which she claims he filmed without her consent.
She is now suing for damages, but Diplo’s lawyer has denied the allegations and claims the woman is a friend of Shelly’s.
“This complaint is completely outrageous, wildly untrue and yet also entirely predictable," Freedman said, "given that it simply repeats the exact same claim already made by the plaintiff’s friend Shelly Auguste, an individual who has been harassing Mr. Pentz and his family for more than a year and already has repeatedly violated the restraining order issued against her.”
Alice Kelly is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Catch her covering all things social justice, news, and entertainment. Keep up with her on Twitter for more.