Garth Brooks Has Spoken Out Defending Himself Against Sexual Assault Allegations Stating "I Am Not the Man They Have Painted Me to Be"

People - Garth Brooks is speaking out after he was accused of sexual assault and rape in a lawsuit filed by a former employee.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, the country legend, 62, claimed, "For the last two months, I have been hassled to no end with threats, lies, and tragic tales of what my future would be if I did not write a check for many millions of dollars. It has been like having a loaded gun waved in my face."

Brooks added, “Hush money, no matter how much or how little, is still hush money. In my mind, that means I am admitting to behavior I am incapable of — ugly acts no human should ever do to another. We filed suit against this person nearly a month ago to speak out against extortion and defamation of character.  We filed it anonymously for the sake of families on both sides."

In conclusion, Brooks said: “I want to play music tonight. I want to continue our good deeds going forward. It breaks my heart these wonderful things are in question now. I trust the system, I do not fear the truth, and I am not the man they have painted me to be.”

Whitesox Dave, Colin, and I were actually on a podcast with KFC this afternoon, recording ourselves talking about Diddy, his most recent allegations (blog coming tomorrow), and the effect all of these revelations are going to have on the musical era from our childhood, when this news broke. 

There were whispers the past few weeks as the Diddy allegations have been snowballing, that a name bigger than him, in the country-music world was next. 

And it doesn't get much bigger than Garth Brooks. 

Garth Brooks is the best-selling country artist of all time, having sold over 162 million albums in the United States alone. He is also recognized as the second-best-selling music artist in history, following The Beatles. So this suit and these allegations are a big deal. 

If you want to see exactly what those are, you can read the Daily Mail article that broke the news here. 

 Or read the breakdown of them here - 

It's important to note this is a civil lawsuit, not criminal charges. All of which Brooks vehemently denies. 

Though this marks Brooks’ first time speaking publicly about the suit, he previously denied the woman’s claims in a complaint filed with the intention of blocking her allegations from going public. That suit was filed anonymously in Mississippi in September as “John Doe,” according to the complaint.

In that filing, which was obtained by PEOPLE, Doe accused the woman of being a “lying extortionist who intended on destroying his professional reputation.”

"[Her] allegations are not true. [She] is well aware, however, of the substantial, irreparable damage such false allegations would do to Plaintiff’s well-earned reputation as a decent and caring person, along with the unavoidable damage to his family and the irreparable damage to his career and livelihood that would result if she made good on her threat to 'publicly file' her fabricated lawsuit,” the John Doe complaint reads. “Indeed, such knowledge no doubt explains why [she] threatened to file suit through a 'confidential' demand letter rather than simply filing suit to redress her alleged (but untrue) injuries."

A very serious matter that we can be sure plays out on full public display, because that's how these things go. 

Tom Segura, who for years has joked (I think?) that Brooks is a serial killer, has yet to comment.