Why Rapper TI And Wife Tiny Harris Are Being Investigated For Sexually Assaulting And Drugging Women
Two new women have come forward with allegations against the couple.
VH1 The Los Angeles Police Department has opened an investigation into allegations against rapper T.I. and his wife, singer Tameka "Tiny" Harris.
According to the Daily Beast, two more women have recently come forward with accusations of sexual assault and drugging against the couple, bringing the total number of alleged victims to at least 30.
What are T.I. and his wife Tiny Harris being accused of?
Accusations of sexual assault and drugging against T.I. and Tiny Harris date back to as early as 2005.
According to attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn, who is handling the claims made by multiple women, his clients descriptions of what happened are "eerily consistent," presenting a pattern of incidents during which women say they were subjected to "sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats, and false imprisonment.”
The most recent allegations were made by two women who say that, on separate and unrelated occasions during which each was spending time with the couple, they were drugged and then sexually assaulted by T.I. and Tiny Harris.
The two women separately filed reports — one in Los Angeles in April and one in Las Vegas in early May — stating they had been offered a Patron-based drink by Tiny before being assaulted.
The woman in Los Angeles says that after being given a sip of Tiny's drink, she was invited back to the couple's hotel room, where she became sick and blacked out.
She told police she awoke the next morning unable to remember what happened next, but feeling "very sore," with an "itching/burning sensation," seeming to imply she'd been involved in sexual activity of some kind.
The allegations against T.I. and Tiny first surfaced in January, when a woman named Sabrina Peterson came forward on Instagram.
Peterson wrote that T.I. put a gun to her head in front of her children.
She later shared that she had received an influx of messages from others alleging to have experienced similar sexual misconduct by T.I. and Tiny.
By March, 17 more accusers had come forward to press charges against T.I. and Tiny for what Blackburn refers to as "a myriad of allegations of forced drugging, kidnapping, rape, and intimidation" over a period of time spanning more than 15 years.
In the midst of the accusations, production was halted on the couple's VH1 reality show, "T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle."
“We are aware of the allegations, and while they are not connected to our show, we have reached out to T.I. and Tameka Harris, as well as local and state officials,” a spokesperson for MTV said at the time.
“Given the serious nature of the allegations," they continued, "we have decided to suspend production in order to gather more information.”
In a statement to People, T.I. and Tiny's attorney, Steve Sadow, said the following:
"The Harrises have not spoken to or been contacted by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Las Vegas Police Department (LVPD) or, indeed, any member of law enforcement from any other jurisdiction in the country...
"Even assuming the story in the Daily Beast is close to accurate, it appears the LAPD 'accuser' has chosen once again to remain anonymous, thereby preventing us from being in a position to disprove or refute her allegations — or even examine them...
"Meanwhile, although we now appear for the first time to have the name of an 'accuser' who supposedly filed a police report with LVPD, we have absolutely zero details about her or her claim."
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available. Call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Courtney Enlow is Editor of Pop Culture and Good News at YourTango. Her work has appeared at Vanity Fair, Glamour, Pajiba, SYFY FANGRRLS, Bustle, Huffington Post, io9, and others. She is the former co-host of the podcasts Trends Like These and Strong Female Characters.