After a 2001 Backstreet Boys concert, Nick Carter allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl.

This story includes descriptions of sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.

Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is being sued for sexual battery following an alleged incident in 2001.

According to legal documents obtained by TMZ, Shannon Ruth, then 17, claims the singer, then 21, invited her onto the band's tour bus after a concert on their Black & Blue world tour and sexually assaulted her.

The documents state that Carter asked Ruth, who has autism and cerebral palsy, if she wanted a drink. When she asked for apple juice, the singer said they only had cranberry juice and offered that to her.

Ruth claims the red-coloured drink, which Carter called "VIP juice", tasted "off", but drank it to not be rude. She now believes it contained alcohol.

The lawsuit alleges Carter took Ruth into the tour bus' bathroom and ordered her to perform oral sex on him. She cried throughout but he allegedly instructed her to continue.

Ruth claims Carter then took her to a bed and continued assaulting her, called her a "r*tarded little bitch" and said no one would believe her if she told anyone what had happened.

According to the documents, Ruth was also a virgin at the time and contracted HPV after the incident. She is now seeking damages.

"Just because Nick Carter is a celebrity does not mean that he is excused from his crimes," Ruth said at a press conference this week.

"I am a survivor and always will be."

While Carter is yet to comment, a source close to him told TMZ the accusation is "categorically false" and the singer is "focusing on his family and mourning the death of his brother", Aaron Carter, who died last month.

The Backstreet Boys announcing their Black & White Tour in 2001. Image: Getty.

This isn't the first sexual assault allegation against Nick Carter. 

In 2017, Melissa Schuman, a former member of the early 2000s girl band DREAM, alleged the singer performed oral sex on her without her consent, forced her to masturbate him and raped her.

He was 22; she was 18.

"[It’s] something that I’ve wanted to pretend never happened since I was 18," Schuman wrote in her statement. "A burden I thought I’d have to carry for the rest of my life and suffer in silence."

She was also a virgin at the time.

"I told him that I was saving myself for my future husband. I said it over and over again. He whispered in my ear as to entice me, 'I could be your husband'," Schuman wrote.

"He was relentless, refusing to take my no’s for an answer. He was heavy, too heavy to get out from under him. Then I felt it, he put something inside of me. I asked him what it was and he whispered in my ear once more, 'It’s all me baby.' It was done."

Prosecutors said they would not pursue sexual assault charges against Carter because the statute of limitations had expired. Carter also denied the incident was non-consensual.

"I am shocked and saddened by Ms Schuman’s accusations. Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual," he said in a statement at the time. 

"This is the first that I am hearing about these accusations, nearly two decades later. It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm."

Schuman remained silent about the alleged assault for years but came forward after seeing online "victim shaming" of an unidentified woman who accused Carter and a friend of sexually assaulting her at a house party in 2006. 

Carter’s representative said the woman "fabricated the claims" as she was hoping to "extort money from him".

More to come.

Feature image: Getty.