A Very Backstreet Holiday was scheduled to air on ABC on December 14, 2022, to commemorate the group’s recent album drop with the same name. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the network will no longer air the boy band’s holiday special this month. In its place will be comedy reruns.
The conclusion to drop the special resulted from the lawsuit against Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter that was filed Thursday claiming that Carter allegedly raped a 17-year-old fan on the boy band’s tour bus after a concert that took place in 2001 in Tacoma, Washington. The now-39-year-old accuser, Shannon “Shay” Ruth, claims that Carter chose her amid a group of autograph seekers to join him on the tour bus, allegedly offered her an alcoholic beverage called “VIP juice,” and allegedly sexually assaulted her, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Ruth, who has cerebral palsy and is also autistic, filed a civil case against the singer and also claims that the singer infected her with HPV, according to BBC. According to Ruth’s lawyer, Mark Boskovich, Carter said no-one would ever believe in her” because of her disability.
Carter’s lawyer, Michael Holtz, responded in a statement to Variety: “This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue. Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick – and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time. No one should be fooled by a press stunt orchestrated by an opportunistic lawyer – there is nothing to this claim whatsoever, which we have no doubt the courts will quickly realize.”
A Very Backstreet Holiday was supposed to star Carter, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, and AJ McLean–The Backstreet Boys. The boy band was to perform their hits from their 10th album, A Very Backstreet Christmas, with appearances from other celebrities such as Meghan Trainor and Seth Rogen, to name a few.