Backstreet Boy Nick Carter denies 2002 rape allegation

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Backstreet Boy singer Nick Carter on Wednesday denied an allegation that he raped a teen pop singer 15 years ago, saying he was “shocked and saddened” by the accusation.

FILE PHOTO: Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys poses at 30th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Hollywood, California April 17, 2013. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Melissa Schuman, who was a member of girl group Dream in the late 1990s, claimed in a lengthy blog post earlier this month that Carter forced her to have oral sex and raped her in 2002 when she was 18 and he was 22.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm Schuman’s allegation.

“I am shocked and saddened by Ms. Schuman’s accusations,” Carter, now 37, said in a statement that was emailed to media outlets.

”Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual.

”It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm,” he said in the statement.

Schuman could not immediately be reached for comment on Carter’s statement. She left Dream in 2002, and after the band made a brief comeback in 2015, it disbanded again in 2016.

She wrote on her blog in a Nov. 2 post titled “Melissa Explains It All” that she had decided to come forward after women made accusations against other prominent men in entertainment and politics, and the #MeToo social media movement.

The Backstreet Boys were one of the biggest boy bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s, with hits like “Quit Playing Games With My Heart.”

Carter and the band are currently playing a concert residency in Las Vegas that is scheduled to run through February 2018.