Diplo is being sued for the alleged distribution of revenge porn, Vanity Fair reports. The lawsuit, viewed by Pitchfork, was filed yesterday (June 27) in a California federal court by a New York woman identified as Jane Doe.
In the complaint, Doe claims that she began communicating with Diplo, on Snapchat, in April 2016 when she was 21 years old and the producer born Thomas Wesley Pentz was 37. “Between April 2016 and June 2016, Diplo maintained continuous contact with Plaintiff [Jane Doe], exchanging pornographic images with her,” the lawsuit states.
Doe and Diplo met in person for the first time in June 2016, beginning “an intimate relationship” that lasted until October 2023. During their relationship, Doe and Diplo had sex and “exchanged intimate and/or nude photographs and videos,” according to the complaint. Doe also “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.”
Doe says, in her complaint, that a woman reached out to her, in November 2023, to tell her “that she was in possession of images and videos of Plaintiff and Defendant Diplo having sex.” The woman allegedly told Doe that Diplo had sent her “the intimate material” via Snapchat in October 2018.
After hearing from the woman—whom Doe clarifies she “did not know” prior to their contact in November 2023—Doe says she reported Diplo to the New York Police Department, and that the police issued a warrant for the musician’s arrest. A spokesperson for the NYPD’s 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.”
Jane Doe believes, according to her lawsuit, that Diplo has been distributing her “intimate images and/or videos from 2018 through present.” The lawsuit also states:
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, one of Jane Doe’s attorneys, Micha Star Liberty, called the lawsuit “a vital step towards justice, highlighting the necessity of protecting the rights of those who have been exploited.”
Another of Doe’s attorneys, Helene M. Weiss, added, “Our client deserves justice, and she’s hopeful that this litigation may serve as a catalyst in ending the defendant’s repeated victimization of women once and for all. We cannot allow survivors of image based sexual abuse to be silenced.”
Diplo’s attorney, Bryan J. Freedman, said in a statement to Vanity Fair, “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.” He continued, “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.”
Last year, a California woman named Shelly Auguste filed a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department against Diplo, alleging that the musician distributed nude photographs of her without permission. According to Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said “the matter was deemed unable to prosecute.”
Auguste has been involved in a legal battle with Diplo since 2020, and she has twice accused him of distributing revenge porn. Diplo was also not charged criminally over the first allegation of revenge porn distribution.
Auguste is also suing Diplo for sexual battery, defamation, and more. She filed her lawsuit in 2021, leading Diplo to deny her allegations. A civil trial is scheduled for January 2025, per Vanity Fair.
Diplo, in turn, is suing Auguste for stalking, trespassing, and distributing private materials. The lawsuit, filed by Diplo in April 2021, alleges Auguste to be “dangerously unstable,” and claims she “made relentless efforts to communicate with him” after he ended their relationship, including through fake social media accounts.
In a statement shared last year with Pitchfork, Bryan J. Freedman said, “For more than three years, Shelly Auguste has been orchestrating an ongoing smear campaign against Wes—and this is just more of the same.”
Freedman added, “Now, Ms. Auguste is at it yet again. But Wes will defend himself, and, just as he has done every time Ms. Auguste has defamed, harassed and attacked him and his family, he will win.”
If you are being sexually harassed, you can report it to the authorities at your job, school, or local law enforcement. For more information go to https://www.rainn.org/ThatsHarassment
