Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann is taking legal action against German news outlet Der Spiegel for their coverage of the sexual misconduct allegations brought against him last year.

It began in May 2023 when a female fan publicly accused Lindemann of misconduct, alleging she had been drugged at a pre-concert party in Lithuania.

Another fan, Shelby Lynn from , also came forward to share that she was recruited and “groomed” for sex with the singer after a concert. LynNorthern Irelandn claimed her drink was spiked, but said she was not sexually assaulted.

Lindemann denied the allegations, with lawyers calling the accusations “without exception untrue”.

Der Spiegel published a report on 10 June 2023 titled “Twilight of the Gods (or Sex, Power, Alcohol – What the young women from Row Zero report)”, detailing numerous allegations against Lindemann and the band’s alleged Row Zero afterparties.

Lindemann’s legal team at Schertz Bergmann successfully prevented the news outlet from publishing any further stories. According to them, the Hamburg Regional Court stated “that there is a lack of the necessary minimum evidence for this serious suspicion” and that these stories lead to a false sense of Lindemann’s guilt.

Still, the accusations had an impact on Lindemann and the band. The frontman was dropped by his book publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch following the allegations, and the Berlin public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the alleged incidents.

The investigation was concluded and dropped in August 2023.

According to Loudwire, the singer has now raised a criminal complaint with the Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office against Der Spiegel’s executives, alleging that the publication’s reporting included falsified documents and an attempt to commit trial fraud

The complaint comes after the band shared a statement online, explaining how the allegations have impacted them over the past year.

“Since last summer, we have been actively dealing with the accusations made against the band. We take this dispute very seriously, even if much of it is unfounded and excessively exaggerated. It is an inner process that will accompany us for a long time to come. Each of us does this in our own way and deals with it differently,” the statement read.