A petition has been launched demanding Charlamagne Tha God’s removal from his popular “The Breakfast Club” co-hosting gig after a former rape accuser announced that she wanted to re-open the 17-year-old case.
Charlamagne, real name is Lenard Larry McKelvey, was accused of rape in 2001 by Jessica Reid, who was 15 at the time. In a recent interview with The Blast, Reid says she wants to revisit the case.
According to a 2001 police report, Reid attended a party in South Carolina where she was allegedly drugged and raped by Charlamagne, then 22. He was arrested for “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously engaging in penile/vaginal intercourse with a fifteen-year-old child minor,” but was later found guilty of a lesser underage drinking charge, according to TMZ.
TMZ also reports that officials had always maintained that Charlamagne cooperated with the investigation and took a DNA test, which did not produce any evidence that he had sexual contact with the girl.
Charlamagne continues to deny any wrongdoing:
“More than seventeen years ago, Charlamagne was accused of a sexual assault. He never had sexual relations or any physical contact with the accuser and even provided DNA to prove it,” his lawyers said in a statement.“At the time of these claims, Charlamagne cooperated fully with authorities, and after the investigation, this charge against him was dropped.”
It continues: “Charlamagne has spoken about this many times over the years in public, including in his book. While Charlamagne has empathy for all sexual assault victims, he cannot take responsibility for a crime he did not commit.”
Reid’s mother, Joslyn, tells The Blast she was trying to protect her daughter when she was 15-years-old and stopped her from cooperating in the prosecution. She says that she now supports her daughter’s decision to re-open the case.