Woman who accused Diplo of distributing revenge porn speaks out
Diplo and his accuser have been locked in a legal battle since 2020
Shelly Auguste, a woman who has been locked in a legal battle with Diplo since 2020, has filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department alleging that the EDM producer and DJ distributed nude photos of her without permission. Per Pitchfork, Auguste filed the report in August and it was submitted to the city attorney’s office for review in November.
Diplo (born Thomas Wesley Pentz) and Auguste are currently both suing each other in separate lawsuits each filed two years ago. Auguste is suing for sexual battery, gender violence, intentional intrusion into private affairs, battery, assault, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud, violation of the Ralph Civil Rights Act and violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act. Diplo is suing for stalking, trespassing, and distributing private materials.
It’s unclear when the two first starting talking. Auguste claims that Diplo first reached out to her on Twitter in 2014 when she was 17 and he was 35 or 36; Diplo claims that it was in 2018. The two first had sex in April 2019 when Auguste was 22. In her suit, Auguste claims Diplo both recorded her and ejaculated inside of her without her consent. The two had sex again in 2019, according to Auguste’s suit, which she claims also turned into a nonconsensual encounter.
In the following years, the two had a series of interactions Auguste characterizes as Diplo “get[ting] pleasure from putting [her] down” and Diplo describes as stalking that caused him “emotional distress.” Both parties secured restraining orders against each other in 2020 and filed their respective lawsuits the following year.
Auguste’s new claim was motivated by the fact that a woman allegedly contacted her on Instagram with six nude photos of her “that either [Diplo] took or that she had given to him.” According to the report, Auguste “believes that [Diplo] is distributing the nude photographs because he is mad at her for recently filing legal action against him… [and] that he wants to harass and embarrass her.” (Auguste’s 2021 suit also alleged that Diplo had distributed nude photos of her on the internet.)
In response to Pitchfork’s coverage of the story (which read that “A woman told police she believes Diplo distributed nude photographs of her without permission,”), Auguste wrote on Twitter/X, “A woman told police she believes….? No. I did not JUST ‘tell’ police. It was thoroughly investigated, verified, & submitted to the LA prosecutors. I was ALSO GRANTED a temporary restraining order against him. This headline is… odd but ok.”
As of this writing, Diplo has not addressed Auguste’s police report on his social media.
If you or someone you know is suffering from sexual abuse, contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.