Days after T.I. took to Instagram to deny mounting allegations of abuse, saying, "Whatever we ever have done, has been done with consensual adults who into what we into and like what we like," he and his wife were dealt a legal blow by New York lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn. In February 2021, Blackburn sent a letter to the California Attorney General, as well as to state and federal prosecutors in California and Georgia, per The New York Times, revealing that he was contacted "by over 30 women" who alleged that the couple, "accompanied and aided by several individuals in their employ, have kidnapped them, drugged them, raped them, and terrorized them with threats of death or physical bodily harm." According to the letter, the incidents "span 15 years" and took place in California, Georgia, and Florida, and his "clients and their witnesses are prepared to speak with investigators and prosecutors from your office."
That month, activists with 'Me Too' International, National Women's Law Center, and TIME's UP Foundation also penned an open letter "in defense of Black survivors," noting how "no media outlets, corporate actors, or systems of justice have centered survivors' stories or promised accountability" and writing that "we are reliving a collective trauma akin to the exposing of Cosby and R. Kelly." They continued, "This tendency to ignore, mock, challenge, and discredit the stories of Black survivors is an attempt to coerce us into silence and, this too, is an act of violence."
If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for additional resources.
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