Elton John, who is known for his thoughtful love songs, is facing a lawsuit for sexual abuse. A former longtime bodyguard of the singer’s filed a lawsuit alleging a long pattern of abuse taking place over years. Elton John’s lawyers have denied the allegations in the suit and said that Captain Jeffrey Wenninger’s claims are completely false.
“This baseless lawsuit is brought by a disgruntled former security officer seeking to extract an undeserved payment,” Orin Snyder, Elton John’s attorney for Rocket Entertainment Group, said in a statement. But Wenninger’s claims are quite detailed and he says that the actions went on for several years.
Detailed Claims of Sexual Abuse
Elton John is a married man. But the lawsit alleges that the 69-year-old singer forced his hand down his pants during a car ride just months before the star got married. The suit was filed in California Superior Court on Monday by Captain Wenninger, a Los Angeles police sergeant. He said that the abuse intensified during the period between 2010 and 2014, and gives some pretty shocking examples of what John allegedly said to him.
The security guard claimed that John grabbed his crotch, twisted his nipples and demanded that the policeman “say hello to Uncle Elton.” According to the lawsuit, there were many occasions when Elton John found Wenninger so irresistible that he either grabbed him physically or said something lewd.
The New York Daily News cites to an incident in the lawsuit that allegedly occurred on April 12, 2010 when the two men were on the way to Elton John’s home. Purportedly, John told his bodyguard, “You have so many gay genes in you. They just haven’t met up yet.”
Wenninger claims that the pattern of harassment went on for years and included physical attempts by Elton John. Considering that Wenninger was the star’s security guard, it does not seem likely that he feared for his physical safety. But he is arguing that years of abuse prompted the lawsuit. Meanwhile, John’s attorneys call Wenninger’s lawsuit an abuse of the legal system.
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