Diplo accused of sharing revenge porn in new lawsuit
DJ and music producer Diplo is being sued by an anonymous Jane Doe for allegedly distributing revenge porn.
In the lawsuit, filed on Thursday (June 27) in California, the plaintiff accused Diplo – real name Thomas Wesley Pentz – of sending intimate and/or nude images and videos of her to third parties without her consent.
Doe, who resides in New York, claims in the filings seen by The Independent that she had an ongoing sexual relationship with Diplo between 2016 and 2023.
“During that time, Plaintiff made it known that she did not want Defendant Diplo recording them engaging in sexual activities without her explicit consent nor did she want him to distribute images and/or videos to third parties and never gave him consent to do so,” the suit states.
It continues to claim that in November 2023, Doe was notified by a third party that “she was in possession of images and videos of Plaintiff and Defendant Diplo having sex.”
“Between 2018 and 2023, without Plaintiff’s knowledge or consent, Defendant Diplo recorded himself having sex with Plaintiff on numerous occasions and disclosed and/or distributed the images and videos to third parties,” the suit alleges. “Defendant Diplo shared the images and/or videos with the third parties via text messaging and Snapchat.”
In a statement shared with The Independent, Diplo’s attorney, Bryan Friedman, said: “In every case where there has been an allegation of improper conduct made against Wes, the result has been either an immediate dismissal of a bogus lawsuit coupled with an apology, a court-ordered award for Wes in excess of $1.2 million, or the slow demise of an obvious shakedown attempt that has gone absolutely nowhere.
“Time and again, Wes has been targeted by a group of untrustworthy individuals and their unscrupulous lawyers, cobbling together falsehoods in search of a meritless payday. This suit seems to be just more of the same, which is why we have no reason to believe that this will end any differently than all the others,” Friedman added.
The suit also notes that in November 2023, Doe filed a police report to the New York Police Department concerning the “disclosure and/or distribution of the images and videos depicting her by Defendant Diplo.”
An NYPD spokesperson for the office of the deputy commissioner of public information confirmed to Pitchfork that there is “a criminal complaint on file for unlawful dissemination for a suspect with the name of Thomas Pentz which is currently being investigated by NYPD detectives.”
Doe is demanding a jury trial and seeking damages in the amount of $150,000 plus legal fees.
“Plaintiff has and will continue to suffer personal injury from the disclosure and/or distribution of the intimate images and/or videos depicting her genitals and face while she was engaged in sexually explicit activity,” the legal filing says, claiming that it has already caused Doe “extreme and severe emotional distress with physical manifestations, anxiety, depression, and loss of privacy.”
Diplo – who became a household name in the electronic dancehall music scene due to his collaborations with the likes of Skrillex and Justin Bieber – was previously sued by a woman named Shelly Auguste who accused him of sexual abuse and distributing revenge porn.
In 2021, he denied her claims in an Instagram post, calling Auguste a “stalker” who “scammed her way into my life and tried to extort me for millions and then sued me when she didn’t get what she wanted.”
A civil trial for Auguste’s allegations is scheduled for January 2025.
