The man accused by Carrot Top’s legal team of trying to extort the comedian over a sexually explicit recording has denied threatening to release it, saying the video had already been deleted.
Brian Evans was responding to a 3 September court filing in which the comedian’s lawyers allegedly claimed he had threatened to place the recording on the court docket unless a $500,000 settlement was paid.
Evans said the USB drive mentioned in the filing no longer contained the recording. “I never threatened – ever – to post any video anywhere in exchange for a settlement,” he said.
He added: “The video they are discussing – as I made very clear – was deleted a long time ago in accordance with the prior settlement.”
Carrot Top, whose real name is Scott Thompson, remains in hospital following a suicide attempt on Friday.
Evans said he was “sorry that Scott apparently did something to hurt himself”, adding that he did not consider the comedian “to be a bad person” based on what he knew.
He said Thompson had made “a few decisions that were not good ones”, but added: “That is not a reason to hurt himself.”
Evans also rejected any suggestion that he was responsible for the incident, saying: “Finally, it’s not my fault … that Scott did what he did. We don’t even actually know what he did. He survived and I am glad about that.”
He said Thompson was “still young and has a big life ahead of him” and insisted that his intention was not to bring the comedian down.
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