Nelly Speaks out After Sex Tape Leaks Online

Nelly has issued an apology after a video of the rapper receiving oral sex from an unidentified woman was posted briefly to his Instagram account Tuesday. The “Hot in Here” rapper, 47, started trending on Twitter after the video was published. Although the uncensored footage was quickly deleted, recordings still spread after being captured by followers in screencaps.

Tuesday afternoon, Nelly issued an apology to TMZ. “I sincerely apologize to the young lady and her family, this is unwanted publicity for her/them,” he said in the statement. “This was an old video that was private and never meant to go public.” The artist’s team continued to the outlet that they were investigating a breach and were concerned “more of Nelly’s private content” may end up online, including financial information, personal files and passwords.

Nelly’s social media scandal comes just seven months after he split from longtime girlfriend Shantel Jackson, whom he began dating in 2014. The 37-year-old model confirmed she and Nelly were “just friends” back in August 2021, when responding to someone on Instagram asking if she and the Grammy winner were “still together.” She replied at the time, “No we’re not. Just friends.”

Nelly and Jackson were serious throughout their relationship, with Jackson expressing in 2017 that she thought about freezing her eggs to have a child with her then-beau. In October 2020, Nelly told Entertainment Tonight he thought Jackson was “the one,” gushing over his girlfriend, “She’s great. She’s really dope. We have a great time, and we understand each other. We have so much in common. She’s very driven, very passionate about the things she does, and she doesn’t accept anything but wanting to be better. And that’s what I love. That’s exactly what I love.”

Performing a dance dedicated to Jackson on Dancing With the Stars that same week, Nelly told the ABC show’s audience, “I would not want my life to not have Shantel in it. We’ve been seeing each other for five or six years. Any time you can connect with somebody like that, it works out for the long run. She’s sweet, beautiful and the more we got to know each other, she’s just as beautiful inside.”