Derrick Rose spokesperson calls lawsuit alleging rape “outrageous,” a “shakedown”

A woman saying she was a former girlfriend of Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose has filed a lawsuit against him featuring some very serious and troubling allegations — that he and a friend had drugged and gang raped her. These came without criminal charges — she had not gone to the police about the alleged incident two years ago — but certainly were serious charges she made through a civil lawsuit seeking damages (read: money).

Derrick Rose responded through a spokesperson and called it all BS (in so many words. Via the tweets of Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.

The plaintiff’s allegations are completely false and without any factual basis. This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete. Mr. Rose was in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years. The plaintiff expressed no complaints about Mr. Rose until various lawyers began to surface and demand that the plaintiff be paid millions of dollars. This is the third lawyer the plaintiff has retained in this matter. Two years have passed since Mr. Rose ended the consensual relationship with the plaintiff and her claims are as meritless now as they were two years ago. We have complete confidence that the case will be dismissed and that Mr. Rose will be vindicated. This lawsuit is outrageous.

The Bulls also issued a statement, and decided to stay out of this.

Bulls statement on TMZ's Rose story continues: "It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) August 27, 2015

As I noted in the story we did on the woman’s lawsuit, I would caution jumping to any conclusions. None of us were there, we don’t know what happened or didn’t happen. The story has the potential to be spun toward a couple of stereotypes — the entitled athlete or the gold digging woman — and real answers are rarely that simple.

The elusive truth — which likely feels very different to the two people involved — could fall anywhere on a large spectrum.

With Rose, he knows the reality of being a star athlete in this country — if he plays well, these allegations will pretty much be forgotten or ignored by fans.