Nick Carter’s ‘DWTS’ Partner Defends Him Amid Rape Allegations: ‘This Is Not Victim Shaming’
Sharna Burgess, Nick Carter's former Dancing With the Stars partner from Season 21, wants to "shed a little bit of love and positivity on the man that [she] got to know" amid the sexual assault accusations surrounding Carter.
In a series of videos shared to her Twitter account over the weekend, the Australian professional dancer defended the Backstreet Boys singer's character against Melissa Schuman's harrowing rape allegations.
"Nick was definitely one of the most respectful guys that I ever danced with on the show," Burgess said in one of the video clips. "What I loved about Nick, too, was he always took ownership of the things that he'd been through, the darkness in his history, the mistakes that he's made."
Burgess also described Carter as "incredibly sweet," "so understanding" and gushed about the pop star's treatment of the DWTS crew with the utmost respect.
"I don't have facts to give you about the situation and that is not what this video is for," she continued. "This is purely me, right here, saying Nick, I adore you, I think you are such a good person from the inside and the out. And I think that will shine through and I think that the truth always shines through... Keep your head high, babe."
Burgess prefaced her opinionated videos by writing that "these are only my thoughts, this is not victim shaming."
"Y'all know me and I would never," she continued. "Just because I support Nick, doesn't mean I don't support female empowerment..."
Burgess' vlogs were published to follow up an earlier tweet which received negative backlash. In the tweet, which shared a link to a blog purporting to compile facts on Carter and Schuman's history, Burgess wrote, "I'll post a video this weekend about my thoughts and feels on @nickcarter and the accusations, but until then... I'll just leave this right here. Please know your facts before stating your opinion."
In early November, Schuman, a former singer who appeared in late '90s/early 2000s pop group Dream, accused Carter of raping her in his Santa Monica home when she was 18 years old.
In a post on her blog, Schuman recounted that the boy band star "threw [her] on the bed" and assaulted her.
Carter has since denied Schuman's accusations, stating that "Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual."
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