Despite the fact that Rick James passed away 16 years ago, a woman has come forward in 2020 alleging that the funk singer raped her and is suing his estate for $50 million.
According to legal documents obtained by Complex magazine, the unnamed woman claimed James raped her during a visit to a group home in his Buffalo, New York, hometown. After dinner, the woman says the “Superfreak” singer came into her room and raped her.
“Almost immediately, Rick James was very suggestive and inappropriate towards me,” she wrote in an affidavit filed on Feb. 13 in Erie County Supreme Court against The James Ambrose Johnson Jr. 1999 Trust, which runs Rick James’ estate.
“As I was laying on my belly on my bed, Rick James came into my bedroom and swiftly laid on top of me,” the woman, who was 15 at the time, says. “He grabbed my hair and pushed my head into the pillow. I tried to fight him off, but he told me, ‘Shut up and quit moving or I’ll cut you.’ He violently ripped off my underwear and proceeded to violently rape me and ejaculate inside of me.”
Page Six states the allegedly violent episode occurred in 1979, not long after the release of James’ first album.
Furthermore, the claimant told the court in documents that James told her that he “would know where to find” her if she ever told anyone about the alleged rape.
The woman said the Motown icon inflicted “physical, psychological and emotional injury.”
Part of James’ legacy included his incessant drug use and, of course, his imprisonment in 1993 for assaulting two women, including one who was allegedly imprisoned and tortured her over a three-day period.
James passed away in his Los Angeles home at age 56 on Aug. 6, 2004.
