According to a new multimillion-dollar lawsuit, Snoop has been a bad Dogg.
The rapper was sued on Friday by a woman who claims she was raped by Snoop and members of his posse following a January 2003 taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Kylie Bell, a makeup artist who won an Emmy in 2002 for her work on Six Feet Under, claims that she was engaged by Snoop (whose real name is Calvin Broadus) to apply and remove his makeup during a several-day guest-hosting gig on Kimmel's show.
Bell states in her suit that she saw large amounts of champagne and marijuana inside the El Capitan Theater where Jimmy Kimmel Live tapes and that on the final night of Snoop's hosting responsibilities, she saw the rapper snort cocaine.
During a party that same night, Bell was allegedly encouraged by a Snoop Dogg associate to drink something she initially believed was champagne, according to her lawsuit, which is online at The Smoking Gun.
After drinking the substance, Bell started to feel "very heavy" and could not control her body, per her lawsuit. At that point, she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Snoop Dogg and several associates and then raped by three of them, including the rapper, according to her lawsuit.
The following day, Bell reportedly told her family about the incidents, but according to her suit, they advised her not to tell the police what had occurred as they feared for her safety due to Snoop Dogg's alleged gang ties.
Over the course of the next year, Bell allegedly suffered "extreme emotional distress and anxiety" and was unable to work. By May 2003, she had used up her savings, according to her suit.
Bell then contacted ABC Vice President Jean Zoeller and told her that she had been assaulted on the show and intended to go to the police. As a result, Zoeller allegedly began paying Bell's expenses with checks not affiliated with ABC or Kimmel's show. But the money purportedly stopped coming after Bell refused to hire a lawyer recommended by Zoeller, who also serves as counsel for the show, according to Bell's court documents.
In September 2003, Bell was hospitalized for psychiatric problems resulting from the alleged assault, per her lawsuit. Following the hospitalization, Snoop Dogg began paying for her expenses, while lawyers for both parties negotiated on how much compensation Bell was due from the rapper.
According to Bell's suit, a proposed settlement was reached on Jan. 6, but fell through on Jan. 18, after Snoop Dogg's insurance company allegedly refused to pay part of the agreed-upon compensation.
Now, Bell is seeking $25 million in damages--$5 million on allegations of sexual assault, rape, negligence and emotional distress and $20 million in punitive damages. Besides Snoop Dogg, ABC, Walt Disney and Kimmel's show are also named as defendants in the suit for allegedly promoting the "party atmosphere" backstage.
Bell's suit comes almost two months after Snoop filed a preemptive extortion suit against a woman identified only as Jane Doe, claiming that she and her attorneys had demanded $5 million from him in order to stay quiet about an alleged assault that purportedly occurred in 2003.
In a statement released Monday via a spokesperson, the rapper confirmed that Jane Doe was, in fact, Bell.
"Approximately two months ago Snoop Dogg sued Kylie Bell and her attorneys for extortion," the statement read. "This was necessitated by months of repeated threats to go public with the false claim that Snoop assaulted her unless he paid her $5 million. The alleged incident, in which she implicated others, not Snoop, took place two years ago at a television performance. When initially contacted, Snoop?s attorney instructed her that she should go to the police immediately. As was explained in Snoop's complaint, Ms. Bell waited a full six months to file a police report in which she implicated others and was clear that Snoop did nothing wrong.
"In his lawsuit, Snoop attempted to protect Ms. Bell's privacy by suing her as a Jane Doe in the hope that she would recognize that Snoop would not give in to her exorbitant demands and she would drop her untrue allegations. The fact that she has now broadcast her unmerited claims only means that Snoop will have the opportunity to prove in a court of law that Ms. Bell is opportunistic and deceitful. It is truly unfortunate that Ms. Bell has chosen to follow the increasingly common path of misusing the legal system as a means of extracting financial gain from entertainers and other celebrities. We are confident that in this case, Ms. Bell's claims against Snoop Dogg will be rejected."
According to that suit, Jane Doe had threatened to sell her story of being assaulted by the rapper to the National Enquirer and to try and get a book deal out of it.
Snoop's court papers concede he "reluctantly made minor payments to Jane Doe for a limited period of time in the perhaps naive hope that she would drop" her allegations.
It's not the first time Snoop has run in lady-related legal troubles. In August, he settled with a couple of teens who were less than enthused to discover their mugs and bare breasts adorning the cover of Girls Gone Wild: Doggy Style, despite being promised that the shots would not be used in connection with the franchise. Terms of the settlement were not revealed.
Snoop, who is currently touring North America and Europe, is up for a pair of Grammys on Feb. 13 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo and Best Rap Song for "Drop It Like It's Hot," with Pharrell Williams.
(Originally published Jan. 31, 2005 at 5:00 PT.)