Hours after news broke that Diplo may face criminal charges over allegations of rape and sexual assault, the DJ shared his side of the story.
“I will keep this story easy to read because I know the internet has a short attention span,” the 42-year-old star, born Thomas Wesley Pentz, wrote in a Wednesday Instagram post, referring to his accuser as “SA,” whom he also called a “stalker.”
“She was an obsessed fan of mine, and after I relinquished all contact with her, it appears that her only purpose in life has been to disrupt my work, my business, harass me and my close friends and attack me and threaten my family,” he alleged.
Diplo claims that “SA” was “not a minor” when he “had conversations or sexual intercourse” with her, claiming that “her own text messages admit this.”
The EDM artist also insisted that their sexual encounters were “consensual.”
Diplo claimed that he and his accuser “exchanged texts for a few months” after having sex and maintained “small talk” and “sexual flirting” with her sending him “pics and videos.”
The Grammy winner said that his communication with “SA” became “too much to handle” and he “stopped contact” with her, though she was still “obsessed,” he claimed.
Diplo then said that he thought his accuser was “possibly a call girl,” alleging, “SA would offer her friends and other people to have sexual experiences with, and that’s when I began to get suspicious that she was engaging in criminal activity.”
Diplo shared screenshots of his text exchanges with “SA,” which purportedly show the accuser incessantly texting him with no response. He included messages that he believes prove her dishonesty, including claims that he “ejaculated inside her against her will” and knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted infection.
Diplo concluded his post by stating that he “will continue to do everything I can to end this in the most respectful way but will not give in to lies and harassment.”
He added in a caption, “Here’s a story about how a stalker scammed her way into my life and tried to extort me for millions and then sued me when she didn’t get what she wanted.”
The 25-year-old woman — whom the Los Angeles Police Department is not identifying out of privacy concerns — accused Diplo of raping her and recording sexually explicit videos of her without her permission, distributing at least one without her consent and knowingly infecting her with chlamydia, according to the report.
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office is considering charges of invasion of privacy and intentionally giving someone an STI. “We are reviewing the referral and have no further comment at this time,” Rob Wilcox, spokesperson for the LA city attorney, told Page Six.
In a statement to Page Six on Wednesday, Diplo’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing by his client.
“Yet more lies from the same disturbed individual who has been stalking and menacing Wes, his family and his friends for years,” Bryan Freedman said. “As is well known, this person tried to extort Wes for millions of dollars and, after he refused to pay her a penny, launched an unceasing campaign of harassment against my client.
“She has been peddling her lies around the country in a desperate attempt to harm Wes and those he loves, but she will not succeed.”
Diplo previously secured a temporary restraining order against his accuser and sued her for stalking, trespassing and distribution of private materials.
This isn’t the first time the DJ — who has worked with everyone from Ariana Grande to Beyoncé — has faced sexual misconduct allegations. This summer, he was accused of coercing a drunk woman into performing oral sex on him and filming it.
However, Diplo’s lawyer dismissed the claims as a “shakedown.” The unnamed woman later dropped her lawsuit and stated through her attorney, “No payment was offered or requested. I regret filing the lawsuit.”