Three people claiming to be past sexual partners of the singer Usher say in a new lawsuit that the star concealed his alleged herpes diagnosis from them.
According to the California lawsuit obtained by Page Six, the three accusers — two women and one man — are suing for sexual battery, fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Quantasia Sharpton appeared at a press conference Monday morning alongside attorney Lisa Bloom, while the two other plaintiffs remain unnamed.
The suit claims that Usher was diagnosed with herpes simplex II “in or around” 2009, and in 2012 settled a lawsuit with an unnamed woman who claimed she had contracted the virus from him.
Usher “has not publicly denied these claims,” the suit reads, leading the plaintiffs to believe Usher “has the virus and that he exposed them to it.” The suit alleged the plaintiffs had oral or vaginal sex with the “U Got It Bad” crooner because he was a “revered celebrity in their eyes who they believed could be loved and trusted.” One accuser claims to have contracted the virus, while the other two say they were exposed.
The lawsuit also claims Usher, 38, didn’t contact these alleged partners to deny the herpes diagnosis rumors, nor can they contact him because he allegedly called them from “blocked numbers or ‘burner phones’ and failed to leave contact information with them after they had sex.” If Usher doesn’t, in fact, have the sexually transmitted disease, the plaintiffs claim he still caused them “severe emotional distress since he has allowed plaintiffs, and other men and woman, to worry that he has exposed them to the virus and that they have, in turn, exposed their own partners and perhaps newborn children to the disease.”
Bloom and her clients are demanding a trial by jury, punitive damages and an injunction requiring that the R&B musician fully disclose his herpes diagnosis before engaging in sexual activity with any man or woman in the future.
Usher has not commented.