{"id":835943,"date":"2026-03-27T01:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/835943\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T01:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T01:27:15","slug":"a-civil-lawsuit-was-filed-against-puka-nacua-what-allegations-is-he-facing-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/835943\/","title":{"rendered":"A civil lawsuit was filed against Puka Nacua. What allegations is he facing? \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A civil lawsuit has been filed against Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua<\/a>, alleging the third-year pro made an \u201cunprovoked antisemitic statement\u201d in the presence of a Jewish woman and bit two women on New Year\u2019s Eve, according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nacua\u2019s attorney has denied the allegations, and said the lawsuit is \u201cnot a legitimate legal claim\u201d and that Nacua plans to file a defamation lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the latest.<\/p>\n

What is being alleged in the lawsuit<\/p>\n

The plaintiff, Madison Atiabi, claims that Nacua made an offensive remark regarding Jews during a dinner and, according to the lawsuit, he \u201cbecame intoxicated and was acting strange and \u2018touchy feely\u2019 with the women at the dinner,\u201d The Athletic reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Following the dinner, the group loaded into a Sprinter van and, according to the lawsuit, Nacua allegedly bit Atiabi on the left shoulder \u2014 hard enough to leave an imprint that was later photographed \u2014 as well as one of her female companions, The Athletic reported.<\/p>\n

Atiabi alleges that the biting incident occurred without consent or provocation, according to The Athletic.<\/p>\n

News of the lawsuit was first reported by TMZ<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Atiabi filed for a temporary restraining order against Nacua, but that request was denied, according to ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The response from Puka Nacua\u2019s attorney<\/p>\n

In a statement shared on social media by TMZ\u2019s Michael J. Babcock<\/a>, Nacua\u2019s attorney, Levi McCathern, said that Nacua \u201cdenies these allegations in the strongest possible terms. We will be filing a defamation lawsuit and pursuing all available legal remedies in response to these false and damaging statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCathern said \u201cthis matter is not sexual in nature, nor does it involve any allegation of domestic violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIt also doesn\u2019t involve any elements of antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Times reported<\/a> that McCathern has spoken to witnesses \u2014 including other Rams players that were present \u2014 and they did not hear Nacua make an antisemitic remark. <\/p>\n

McCathern described the biting incident as innocent \u201chorseplay\u201d to the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n

In the statement from McCathern, the attorney said he has video evidence that Atiabi continued to spend time with Nacua following the incident, conduct that is inconsistent with the allegations being made against Nacua.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the months that followed, our office was contacted with demands for millions of dollars in exchange for not publicizing these allegations,\u201d McCathern said in the statement. \u201cThat is not a legitimate legal claim \u2014 it is blackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nacua\u2019s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment from the Deseret News.<\/p>\n

In December, Nacua apologized for an antisemitic gesture he made during an appearance on a livestream with Adin Ross and N3on, as the Deseret News previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I appeared the other day on a social media livestream, it was suggested to me to perform a specific movement as part of my next touchdown celebration. At the time, I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people,\u201d Nacua said in an apology on Instagram regarding the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions as I do not stand for any form of racism, bigotry or hate of another group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

A hearing in the case is scheduled for April 14, according to multiple reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A civil lawsuit has been filed against Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, alleging the third-year pro…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,1852],"class_list":{"0":"post-835943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-news-feed-national"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116298543763087796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}