Rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris, have been accused of engaging in sexual abuse and drugging multiple women over the past 16 years, according allegations leveled Monday at a virtual news conference.
Attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn detailed the allegations of six anonymous women who claim T.I., Tiny and their associates abused them, including instances of rape, drugging and kidnapping. The lawyer sent letters, which were obtained by Variety, to the California and Georgia attorney generals, asking them to investigate the claims.
The women shared “eerily similar [allegations] of sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment,” taking place in Los Angeles, Georgia and Florida and dating back to 2005, according to Blackburn.
Steve Sadow, legal counsel for T.I. and Tiny, strongly denied the allegations in a statement to Variety.
“Clifford (T.I.) and Tameka Harris deny in the strongest possible terms these unsubstantiated and baseless allegations. We are confident that if these claims are thoroughly and fairly investigated, no charges will be forthcoming. These allegations are nothing more than the continuation of a sordid shakedown campaign that began on social media. The Harrises implore everyone not to be to be taken in by these obvious attempts to manipulate the press and misuse the justice system,” Sadow said.
One woman alleges that in September 2005, she and a friend were drinking in a Los Angeles club with T.I. and Tiny, and they all later moved to a hotel. The woman alleges that Tiny gave her a drugged drink, and T.I. gave her a massage and attempted to put his foot in her vagina in the hotel room. She refused, and the next thing she remembers was waking up naked on the couch.
Another woman alleges that at the age of 17, she was offered a drink and two unknown pills by Tiny while she was interning at the couple’s Atlanta studio in the summer of 2006. She alleges Tiny told her to undress to cool off, and the woman later passed out and woke up naked with a bleeding vagina. An employee of T.I. and Tiny drove her to a pharmacy to buy emergency contraception and threatened her to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to make it in the music industry and if not, bad things would happen to her and her family, the woman alleges.
In an incident in Atlanta in 2007, another woman claims that while visiting Tiny at a studio, Tiny offered her to a security guard, who stalked her. Two months later, the woman encountered the security guard again, who allegedly held a gun to her head, blindfolded her, put her in a car, raped her three times within 24 hours and threatened to kill her if she spoke about it. The woman alleges T.I. called her shortly after and threatened her to never come to the studio again.
Variety could not reach the unidentified women, but several of them spoke to The New York Times.
On Jan. 29, the Harrises denied allegations from Sabrina Peterson, who alleged that T.I. held a gun to her head, amid other women’s accusations of sexual abuse and drugging on social media. During the press conference, Blackburn said Peterson “opened the door” for other women and “gave them the courage to come forward.”
Sadow also refuted a claim from Blackburn alleging that Sadow reached out to him to make a deal on behalf of T.I. and Tiny.
“I understand that at a virtual press conference today, attorney Blackburn claimed the Harrises reached out to him through me to supposedly make a deal. That is patently false,” Sadow said in a statement to Variety. “I reached out to see if he would share any information since his name was posted on Instagram as the attorney for Sabrina Peterson. Blackburn repeatedly refused to provide the names of his accuser-clients or any corroborating or supporting evidence of his groundless claims. The Harrises repeat that they are confident if a thorough and fair investigation is conducted, no charges will be brought.”