In a story first reported by TMZ Sports, an unidentified woman has filed a lawsuit against Rose for drugging and gang raping her with two of his friends in August 2013. The aforementioned crimes allegedly began at Rose's Beverly Hills home and ended at the woman's apartment near downtown Los Angeles. Rose and the woman were in a relationship from 2011 until a month before the sexual assault is said to have taken place. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, aims to give the woman "an award of money judgment for mental pain and anguish and severe emotional distress."
While the woman says she only remembers "flashes" of what allegedly happened, she can recall being forcibly raped by the defendants after they broke into her apartment. She waited two years to file this lawsuit because she was "ashamed and embarrassed" about it. She also did not want her "conservative family" to know.
Rose's camp didn't wait long to respond. Attorney and spokesperson Lisa Cohen issued the following statement, as first reported on Twitter by Liz Mullen:
“The plaintiff’s allegations are completely false and without any factual basis. This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete. Mr. Rose was in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years. The plaintiff expressed no complaints about Mr. Rose until various lawyers began to surface and demand that the plaintiff be paid millions of dollars. This is the third lawyer the plaintiff has retained in this matter. Two years have passed since Mr. Rose ended the consensual relationship with the plaintiff and her claims are as meritless now as they were two years ago. We have complete confidence that the case will be dismissed and that Mr. Rose will be vindicated. This lawsuit is outrageous.”
On Thursday, the Bulls were less blunt and accusatory, simply saying "We just learned about this matter and do not know all the facts. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time." Then again, this is what we would expect a professional organization to say in times like this. The Blackhawks said something similar when the Kane story broke.
I'm not going to analyze the woman or her claims because doing so would be extremely detrimental in talking about a heinous crime that, for all we know, really did happen. This is a very delicate situation that, again, is not any better without any criminal charges involved. Instead, I'm going to target a couple of groups, starting with the one made up of the two Chicago athletes who have made the wrong headlines this month (never mind that this is a Bulls blog, not a Chicago sports blog).
Whether they did it or not, they've both come across as very undisciplined. Whether it's the people they hang around or behavior that makes others uncomfortable, they've put themselves in these situations simply by not having enough common sense. People with values, or lack thereof, can turn on you if they feel they have been wronged. Even if those people are not in the right, you have to really think about those who want to be around you and consider if they will get you in trouble based on what they think you've done.
You can't blame victims or even consider the alleged rapist guilty before facts have come out. In Rose's case, neither side has been shy about their feelings about this. As for Kane, all we know is he's talked to investigators about what's going on and only the alleged victim has talked. Regardless, you can't let yourself get into a situation where people are pointing fingers or going to the authorities because your reputation can take a hit and then, others might not want to go near you.
Both will be 27 this fall, meaning they're past the point where they should have grown up and become adults by now. Being undereducated should be no excuse for not knowing how to act in these situations. Someone else took Rose's SAT exam and Kane never went to college, but you'd think they would have gained enough street smarts by now to avoid these situations. Okay, maybe they haven't actually been wandering the streets recently, but how much real-world experience do you need before getting the message that no means no when a woman says it?
If a woman is only hanging around you because of your money, that should be the first sign that she's a flake and not worth pursuing. Obviously, she won't imply that when she hangs with you, but how can you be so sure she likes you for who you are, not what you've accomplished? These two guys need to take good, long looks at themselves and think about how they've allowed these situations to happen. You are who your friends are and if you can't recognize there's something in you or them that may lead to a downfall, that's your fault.
The second group I wish to talk about is those on social media who have already declared Rose guilty and are choosing to make light of it. I've already heard some telling Chicago to get its athletes together, which is pretty bad considering neither has been charged with a crime. Worse than that however is people who came out with photoshopped images of Rose that implied he did what he's been accused of. Not even an hour after the initial report was released, images such as Rose in a prison jumpsuit and Rose with Bill Cosby were already making the rounds on social media.
What kind of sick people are you? I get that social media allows us to create instantaneous reactions to everything, but why do you have to lightly tear down every public figure right away when even the slightest accusation comes his/her way? First of all, this is something serious that has supposedly happened. Secondly, I didn't realize civil and criminal cases were now decided by the court of public opinion instead of that old-fashioned, outdated judge-and-jury combo.
Those who want to joke about this right off the bat are either immature, can't be reasoned with or are some combination of the two. You can't even picture Rose in prison if no criminal charges are involved. I guess ignorance is bliss though. If you must, live your own little world where alleged facts are actual facts and thus, we must torch anyone who has even the slightest connection to a crime that may or may not have happened.
I bet it wouldn't be so funny if someone in your family was accused. How would you like it if someone placed Bill Cosby over a loved one's face or cranked out memes like they were going out of style? If that wouldn't upset you even a little bit, I have no hope anyone can teach you to have empathy or an open mind. You have my pity for that.
Jessica Luther, a freelance journalist based in Texas, tweeted the most appropriate thing about this particular angle: "If you heard about Derrick Rose and your immediate impulse is to tell a joke: don't." God bless you, Jessica. I'm glad you have a firm grasp on things and don't jump to conclusions before any facts have come out. Granted, Rose hasn't been the most well-liked athlete of late because of injuries and bad communication, but is that really a reason to quickly jump on something more serious than anything that has come before?
I'm probably just feeding the Internet trolls by spewing this stuff, but you really need to know some people just won't listen for anything new to come out and just make up their minds right there and then. Once they do, they'll either rip them a new one or find it humorous and find some way to express how they feel. The best advice I can offer is if you come across them, just ignore them. They love to stir up trouble and will sit in front of a screen all day hoping to get multiple rises out of more reasonable people.
This whole thing is just a sad state of affairs and I'm not looking forward to seeing how it plays out. No matter what happens, Rose is going to be reminded of this everywhere from now on. Maybe a championship will deflect some of those words away. Even if it does however, there's no denying he will be connected to this for a long time, possibly the rest of his life.
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