Jake Paul, on the eve of his boxing rematch Tyron Woodley, has defended himself from sexual assault allegations leveled by former Team 10 member and TikToker Justine Paradise again, claiming she was “paid” to make the claims back in April 2021.
Days out from his fight against Ben Askren, Jake Paul was accused of sexual assault by former Team 10 member Justine Paradise.
In an April 9 video, Paradise claimed she was assaulted in July 2019. According to her account of the events, the two were dancing together in his room before Paul tried to have sex with her without asking for her consent.
Paul denied the claims at the time, saying it was “100% false” and “a blatant attempt for attention during a highly visible fight week.” He also claimed he would pursue legal action to make sure “they’re held accountable for the things they’re saying because they’re not true.”
Just before his next fight, this time a rematch against Tyron Woodley, Paul has defended himself again, recounting to Graham Bensinger how the allegations affected him.
“When you get sued for some ridiculous thing, it’s just awful. It’s time-consuming, it takes a toll on your life, and it’s very expensive. No matter what, you want to settle. You don’t want to end up in court,” he said, talking about the lawsuits filed against him.
“We live in a society where someone can make a claim about an individual and it could ruin things in their life forever. I was like ‘this is absurd, this is a lie.’ It made me sick to my stomach and before you know it, people from the event [are like] ‘this sponsor’s pulling out, we might have to cancel the fight’.
“I’ve never laid a finger on a girl without their permission, and it’s devastating to be accused of such a thing.”
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Jake Paul added he believes someone paid Paradise to make the claims: “I think someone paid her to do it. 100%. Something like that doesn’t come out 6 days out from a massive fight.”
Lawsuits forced Paul to “put the camera down” on YouTube
Since the allegations came to light, Jake Paul has pivoted almost entirely to focusing on his boxing career with the occasional YouTube video. The star said the sexual assault claims, and the lawsuits that followed, was “part of [his] decision” to stop creating content.
“They all came from YouTube and making content,” he stated. “It all stems from filming videos and people being pissed off. It’s pretty easy to identify the problem, and it’s part of my decision to stop filming, to just put the camera down. It’s just a vicious and never-ending cycle.
“I made it out of the situation with my brother in Japan where I lost all my money — made it out squeaky clean — just for one day to wake up and it felt like the cycle was repeating itself.”
Jake Paul concluded his tell-all by saying “there needs to be criminal punishment for this type of sh*t, for people who accuse people of things they didn’t do.”
Paradise is yet to respond to Paul’s latest claims.