Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua was sued in a California civil court Wednesday over allegations that he made an antisemitic statement and bit two women on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n
Madison Atiabi, the woman suing Nacua, alleges in her suit that the incident occurred while she and the star receiver separately attended a group dinner in Los Angeles. According to the lawsuit, Nacua \u201cbecame intoxicated and was acting strange and \u2018touchy feely\u2019 with the women at the dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atiabi, who is Jewish, alleges that the 24-year-old Nacua at one point shouted, \u201cF\u2014 all the Jews,\u201d seemingly at random. The group boarded a Sprinter van together after the meal, Atiabi said, at which point, Nacua allegedly became physically and sexually aggressive toward her and her female friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout provocation, consent, or warning, Defendant dropped his head into the lap and crotch area of Plaintiff\u2019s female companion and bit her companion\u2019s thumb with such force that her companion screamed in acute pain,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
Soon after, the lawsuit says, he suddenly turned his attention to Atiabi and allegedly bit her on the left shoulder hard enough to leave tooth imprints. Atiabi alleges the incident occurred without consent or provocation.<\/p>\n
Nacua\u2019s attorney, Levi McCathern, denied the account in a statement Wednesday night, saying Atiabi filed the lawsuit after attempting to blackmail Nacua for millions of dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter is not sexual in nature, nor does it involve any allegation of domestic violence. \u2026 It also doesn\u2019t involve any elements of antisemitism,\u201d McCathern said. \u201cA completely sober witness has stated unequivocally that Puka never made the comments Ms. Atiabi claims.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCathern added that Nacua will file a defamation lawsuit in response, though he did not say when that may happen. He also pointed to a video posted by TMZ that he says shows Atiabi, whose face is not shown, twerking on the Sprinter van near Nacua\u2019s face while he is slumped over with his eyes closed. McCathern claimed that the footage demonstrated Atiabi was not in any distress or danger.<\/p>\n
Atiabi is seeking monetary damages, but the suit does not specify an amount. A hearing on the lawsuit is set for April 14.<\/p>\n
A judge previously denied Atiabi\u2019s request for a protective order against Nacua, stating the court needs more information before issuing one.<\/p>\n
Atiabi\u2019s attorney, Joseph Kar, was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It is not known if the complainant has referred the matter to the police for criminal charges. An attempt to contact the district attorney\u2019s office in California was not immediately returned.<\/p>\n
Based on Atiabi\u2019s account, the alleged incident occurred two weeks after Nacua appeared on a stream with influencer Adin Ross, who is Jewish but has faced criticism for platforming white nationalists. The stream featured Nacua practicing a touchdown celebration that included a signature hand-rubbing gesture of Ross\u2019, which the streamer acknowledges as a reference to Jewish stereotypes. Nacua later apologized for the incident<\/a> after fan outcry online, denouncing bigotry and saying he was unaware of the gesture\u2019s antisemitic roots.<\/p>\n Nacua is coming off the best season of his NFL career. The third-year receiver posted career highs in receptions (129), yards (1,715) and touchdowns (10). He finished third in Offensive Player of the Year voting and is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Rams. His next deal is expected to reset the wide receiver market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua was sued in a California civil court Wednesday over allegations that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1820,349,99],"class_list":["post-547155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}