Diplo has released a lengthy statement addressing sexual misconduct allegations against him and accusing an unnamed woman of stalking and extortion.
The statement comes on the heels of a report by BuzzFeed News, detailing that The Los Angeles city attorney’s office was considering criminal charges against Diplo following an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations.
The investigation into Diplo, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, stems from a complaint made with the LAPD in October 2020. In which a 25-year-old woman accused the DJ of recording sexually explicit videos of her without her consent, distributing at least one of them, and knowingly infecting her with chlamydia.
Under California law both recording a video without a person’s consent and knowingly passing on a sexually transmitted infection are misdemeanors.
Diplo took to Instagram earlier today to vehemently deny the allegations, accusing the woman, whom he refers to as “SA,” of being “a stalker [who] 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.”
“I will keep this story easy to read because I know the Internet has a short attention span and it was my goal to never address a stalker,” Diplo wrote.
The DJ admitted to having prior sexual relations with “SA,” after which she started stalking him.
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“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,” wrote Diplo. “To be clear, SA was not a minor when I had conversations or sexual intercourse with her. Her own text messages admit this. More on this below.
Diplo went on to detail that he had consensual sex with SA after she “reached out to me and I declined a few times but at one time decided to meet her.”
“After that experience, we had exchanged texts for a few months, there was small talk, sexual flirting, she would send me pics and videos,” he continued. “Eventually it got too much to handle and I stopped contact with her when I realized she had started to become obsessed with me.”
“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, and was possibly a call girl,” he wrote.
Within the post, Diplo shared a screen-recorded video of texts SA had sent him, in addition to a screenshot of sexually explicit back-and-forths between them.
The DJ detailed that he, his family, and friends had experienced three years of harassment, stalking, and threats from SA.
“SA began to post on websites about our experience,” he wrote. “One was called Lipstick Alley, and she started to follow my family members, the mothers of my children, and girls I would comment on, on Instagram.
“I didn’t know this until a year later when a private investigator found they were all coming from SA’s location under many names.”
Diplo says that the harassment came to a head when he was expecting his third son. “She became obsessed with my son’s mother… calling and berating her and sending extremely racist comments to her and sharing my text messages from years ago.”
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In a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times, Brian Freedman, the attorney representing Diplo, accused SA of launching “an unceasing campaign of harassment against” the musician.
“Yet more lies from the same disturbed individual who has been stalking and menacing Wes, his family and his friends for years,” Bryan Freedman wrote.
“As is well known, this person tried to extort Wes for millions of dollars and, after he refused to pay her a penny, … has been peddling her lies around the country in a desperate attempt to harm Wes and those he loves, but she will not succeed.”
