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T.I. and his wife Tiny Harris are facing a new civil lawsuit that claims they drugged and sexually assaulted a woman they met in a Los Angeles nightclub in 2005.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles court, lawyers for a Jane Doe accuser say T.I. (Clifford Harris) and Tiny (Tameka Harris) gave her a spiked drink after she was introduced to them in the VIP section of a club, then brought her back to their hotel room where they “forced her to get naked” and assaulted her.
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“Plaintiff did not consent to any of the sexual assault or misconduct and did not have the capacity to consent after being drugged by defendants,” lawyers for the alleged victim write in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Billboard.
Attorneys for accuser, who they say was in her early twenties and serving in the U.S. Air Force at the time, claim she was introduced to the couple by an associate named “Caviar,” who she says she met the previous night at the house of the rapper Coolio. Midway through the alleged incident, after she allegedly drank a beverage offered her by Tiny, she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and later passed out.
The allegations share similarities to previously-reported accusations. In 2021, the New York Times reported a police investigation over an alleged 2005 incident in which “a military veteran” claimed the famous couple had “raped her in a hotel room” after she had become “incapacitated” while drinking with them in the “VIP section” at a Los Angeles club.
At the time, the couple strongly denied any wrongdoing, saying the accusations were part of “a sordid shakedown campaign.” Prosecutors later declined to bring charges over the allegations, citing the expiration of a 10-year statute of limitations.
The new case is filed under California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, which created a four-year window through 2026 for alleged victims to bring cases that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. The law is similar to New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which recently led to a wave of sexual abuse cases in that state before the statute expired in November.
Representatives for the Harrises and their label, Grand Hustle Records, did not immediately return requests for comment on the lawsuit’s allegations. The attorney who represented the couple during the earlier police investigation also did return a request for comment.
The new lawsuit against the Harrises contains explicit details of the alleged sexual assault.
After meeting T.I. and Tiny at the nightclub, the accuser’s lawyers claim Tiny “handed plaintiff a drink” and “watched her take a drink.” A short time later, the trio allegedly returned to a nearby hotel, where Tiny “took off all of plaintiff’s clothing,” got undressed herself, and they were joined by a nude T.I.
“Plaintiff was then directed to get in the shower and T.I. and Tiny entered the shower with her,” her lawyers write. “Plaintiff was extremely shocked and uncomfortable.” After the shower, the accuser claims she began to feel “extremely dizzy and lightheaded” and was “visibly drugged” as T.I. told her to get into bed.
“Plaintiff could tell she was experiencing something serious and debilitating that was not a symptom of a typical drink or a few drinks,” her lawyers say.
After T.I. allegedly forced her to watch pornographic movies, he then “demanded she begin rubbing oil on his back and naked body, while Tiny “proceeded to get on plaintiff’s back, while she was still naked, and grind back and forth” on top of her. Then, “while Tiny was straddled on plaintiff’s back and pinning her down,” the accuser claims that T.I. “proceeded to slide his toes into plaintiff’s vagina.”
“Plaintiff grew increasingly sicker and felt extremely ill by the assault and battery she was experiencing,” the Doe’s attorneys write. Eventually, she “forced herself up and went into the bathroom where she proceeded to vomit.” She later emerged from the bathroom “naked, dazed, sickened, and weak” and passed out on a couch.
When she was awoken by a security guard the next morning, the accuser claims she “immediately noticed her vagina was in serious pain.” As she was crying, she says the security guard then escorted her out of the room.
The lawsuit is the latest in a recent flood of lawsuits alleging sexual assault and sexual harassment by men in the music industry. Over the past year, such cases have been filed against hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, Aerosmith star Steven Tyler, Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine and former Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, among many others.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and need support and/or resources, reach out to RAINN and the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800-656-HOPE) for free, confidential help 24/7.
A bail hearing was postponed Tuesday in Las Vegas for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop music legend Tupac Shakur in 1996, giving defense attorneys time to respond to prosecutors’ allegations that witnesses in the case may be at risk.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ court-appointed attorneys sought the delay to respond to prosecutors’ allegations, filed last week, that jail telephone recordings and a list of names provided to Davis’ family members show that Davis poses a threat to the public if he is released.
No court hearing was held Tuesday. One of Davis’ attorneys, Robert Arroyo, told The Associated Press later that the defense wanted to respond in court in writing. He declined to provide details. Arroyo said last week he did not see evidence that any witness had been named or threatened.
Davis is the only person ever charged with a crime in the drive-by shooting that also wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, who is now serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015.
Davis has pleaded not guilty and is due for trial in June on a murder charge. He has remained jailed without bail since his arrest Sept. 29 outside his Henderson home. Las Vegas police had served a search warrant there in mid-July.
Davis, originally from Compton, California, is now housed at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees’ phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
In a recording of an October jail call, prosecutors say Davis’ son told the defendant about a “green light” authorization. Their court filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed.
“In (Davis’) world, a ‘green light’ is an authorization to kill,” prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in the court document, adding that at least one witness was provided assistance from federal authorities “so he could change his residence.”
Prosecutors also point to Davis’ own words since 2008 — in police interviews, in his 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media — that they say provides strong evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis’ attorneys argue that his descriptions of Shakur’s killing were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
Arroyo and co-counsel Charles Cano have argued their 60-year-old client is in poor health after a battle with cancer that is in remission, poses no danger to the community, and won’t flee to avoid trial. They want Kierny to set bail at not more than $100,000.
Davis maintains that he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by FBI agents and Los Angeles police who were investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
Davis’ bail hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 9.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A full recap of the music law stories that dominated 2023, from #MeToo to artificial intelligence to Ed Sheeran to Young Thug; an appellate setback for Nirvana in the lawsuit over a naked baby on a famous album cover; a lawsuit filed by New York’s attorney general accusing SiriusXM of “trapping” consumers; and much more.
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Year In Review: 2023’s Top Legal Stories
Before we start bringing you all the upcoming music law stories of 2024 — A verdict in the Atlanta RICO trial? More AI lawsuits? A peace treaty between Hall & Oates?!? — let’s take a quick look back at everything that happened in 2023.
Ed Sheeran went to trial over “Let’s Get It On” — and won big. Young Thug went to trial over accusations of gang violence — and there’s no end in sight. A number of men in the music industry were hit with sexual abuse lawsuits, from label executives to star artists to hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs. Lizzo got sued, too, by backup dancers who say she was a toxic boss. And the sudden rise of generative artificial intelligence technology like ChatGPT posed thorny legal questions that could take years to sort out.
To get the full story, go read our entire year-end recap — including the 10 biggest music law stories of 2023 and a slew of honorable mentions.
Other top stories this week…
NIRVANA NAKED BABY CASE – A federal appeals court ruled against Nirvana and revived a child pornography lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden, the man (now in his 30s) who appeared as a nude baby on the cover of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind. The ruling, which said child porn “haunts victims” for years, paves the way for litigation over whether the image actually meets the definition of child pornography — something Nirvana vigorously disputes and some legal experts doubt.
NO-CANCEL CULTURE? – SiriusXM was sued by New York’s attorney general over allegations that the satellite radio and streaming service has made it “extremely difficult” for listeners to cancel their subscriptions, including by subjecting them to “a lengthy and burdensome endurance contest” on the phone. “Sirius deliberately wastes its subscribers’ time even though it has the ability to process cancellations with the click of a button.”
GLORIA TREVI ABUSE CASE – The Mexican pop star sued her former manager and music producer Sergio Andrade, claiming he was a “true predator” who subjected her and other women to “sadistic abuse” in the late 1980s and 1990s. The allegations came as a counter-claim to an earlier lawsuit filed in 2022 by two alleged victims who accused both Andrade and Trevi of “grooming” and “exploiting” them as children.
AMERICAN IDOL ASSAULT CLAIMS – Paula Abdul sued former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe over allegations that he sexually assaulted her, including once during the early seasons of Idol and again in 2014 during the production of So You Think You Can Dance.
Paula Abdul is suing Nigel Lythgoe over claims that the former American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer sexually assaulted her while she was filming the competition television shows.
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The singer-dancer claims in the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday (Dec. 29) and obtained by Billboard, that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her on two occasions. The first instance allegedly occurred during one of the early seasons of American Idol and the second took place in 2014 when she was in talks to judge So You Think You Can Dance.
Abdul, 61, alleges in the suit that Lythgoe, 74, first sexually assaulted her in an elevator of a hotel where they were both staying while traveling for one of Idol’s “initial seasons.” It does not state a specific year the alleged incident occurred.
“Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” according to court documents. “Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her and let him know his behavior was not acceptable. When the doors to the elevator for her door opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her hotel room. In tears, Abdul quickly called one of her representatives to inform them of the assault, but ultimately decided not to take action for fear that Lythgoe would have her fired from American Idol.”
Abdul’s complaint claims that Lythgoe sexually assaulted Abdul again in 2014 when she was approached for a judging position on So You Think You Can Dance. The alleged incident took place during a dinner at his home where the two were supposed to discuss her professional opportunities, according to the lawsuit.
“Toward the end of the evening, however, Lythgoe forced himself on top of Abdul while she was seated on his couch and attempted to kiss her while proclaiming that the two would make an excellent ‘power couple,’” the complaint states. “Abdul pushed Lythgoe off of her, explaining that she was not interested in his advances, and immediately left Lythgoe’s home.”
The suit also alleges that Abdul witnessed Lythgoe sexually assault one of her assistants while filming So You Think You Can Dance in 2015. Lythgoe allegedly “pressed himself” against the woman and “began to grope her” without consent, court document states.
The “Strait Up” hitmaker’s suit further claims that Lythgoe taunted her on the phone about his alleged assaults and states that he “clearly knew that his assaults of Abdul were not just wrong but that he held the power to keep her silent.”
In addition to Lythgoe, the lawsuit names the shows’ production companies American Idol Productions, Dance Nation Productions, 19 Entertainment and Fremantlemedia North America are also listed as defendants. Abdul is suing the defendants for sexual assault/battery, sexual harassment, gender violence and negligence.
Representatives for Abdul and Lythgoe did not immediately reply to Billboard‘s request for comment at press time.
Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi has filed a lawsuit against her former manager and music producer Sergio Andrade, claiming he was a “true predator” who subjected Trevi and other girls to “total control and sadistic abuse” in the late 1980s and 1990s.
The filing also serves as a counter-lawsuit to the complaint filed Dec. 30, 2022, by two Jane Does who sued Trevi and Andrade for “grooming” and “exploiting” them when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 in the early 1990s.
Now, Trevi — who has for many years categorically denied such claims — alleges in the lawsuit, filed Dec. 27 in Los Angeles, that she is also one of Andrade’s victims. According to Trevi’s suit, Andrade took advantage of his position as a successful music executive often called “Mr. Midas” for being able to recognize and promote young, female artists promising them to turn them into stars.
“That position allowed him to draw many young girls into his sphere of influence, who gathered around him in the hopes that he would guide, mentor, and launch their careers in entertainment, as he had previously done for others,” the lawsuit reads. “But once these young girls and women had been drawn into his sphere by dreams of stardom, he subjected them to total control and sadistic abuse – mental, financial, physical, and sexual. Ms. Trevi was one of those young women.”
According to Trevi’s lawsuit, the “Todos Me Miran” singer met Andrade as a child just as she was gaining recognition in Mexico as a singer, and soon he took over her career. “But Andrade also recognized Ms. Trevi as an isolated and vulnerable girl who was easy prey to his manipulation, control, and abuse,” Trevi’s lawsuit claims. “He took full advantage, subjecting the rising child superstar that he had taken on to grotesque abuse calculated to break her spirit.”
The filing includes graphic allegations, such as Trevi being “brutally beaten” by Andrade, at times to the point of unconsciousness, that she was sexually assaulted by him and raped repeatedly. The abuse inflicted by Andrade “eventually drove Ms. Trevi to attempt suicide,” the suit states.
Trevi, who is being represented by Johnny Depp’s former attorney Camille M. Vásquez, explained in a statement to Billboard that she chose to take legal action to fight for justice. “No one should have to go through what I experienced and I am determined to hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions,” she expressed.
Vásquez added, “Our client, Gloria Trevi, has shown great strength and courage in stepping forward and filing this counterclaim. We are fully prepared to present our case and seek justice on her behalf.”
Trevi’s legal woes resurface more than 20 years after Trevi, Andrade and backup singer María Raquenel Portillo, also known as Mary Boquitas, were arrested in January 2000 in Rio de Janeiro for allegedly luring young girls into a cult-like pornographic ring. Former vocalist Karina Yapor, who filed criminal charges against the so-called “Trevi-Andrade clan,” alleged that backup recruits wanting to join the band were forced to have sexual relations with Andrade.
In 2004, Trevi was acquitted by a judge and found not guilty on charges of rape, kidnapping and corruption of minors. This resulted in Trevi’s immediate release from prison in Chihuahua, Mexico.
Trevi’s new lawsuit comes six days after a judge dismissed Portillo’s defamation claims against the two Jane Does after she was sued alongside Trevi and Andrade.
Read Gloria Trevi’s counterclaim below:
Cher has filed for temporary legal conservatorship of her 47-year-old son Elijah Blue Allman, according to a petition filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by Billboard.
In the petition, the “Believe” singer cites her son’s ongoing substance abuse battle, which he’s spoken about in the past. She seeks to be the sole conservator of Allman’s estate, arguing that he “is currently unable to manage his assets due to severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”
“Elijah is entitled to regular distributions from the Trust, but given his ongoing mental health and substance abuse issues, petitioner [Cher] is concerned that any funds distributed to Elijah will be immediately spent on drugs, leaving Elijah with no assets to provide for himself and putting Elijah’s life at risk,” according to the documents. “Elijah is currently unable to manage his finances and the distribution of funds directly to Elijah would not be in his best interests.”
Allman is the son of Cher and former husband, the late Gregg Allman, one of the founding members of the Grammy-winning Allman Brothers Band. Allman and Cher were married from 1975 to 1979, and Elijah Blue is their only child together. Allman died in 2017 after a battle with liver cancer.
Like his parents, Elijah Blue Allman also made a career for himself in the music industry. He was the lead singer of the industrial metal band Deadsy. The rockers charted a pair of LPs on the Billboard 200: 2002’s Commencement (No. 100) and 2006’s Phantasmagore (No. 176).
In October, Cher addressed claims made last year by Elijah Blue’s estranged wife, Marieangela King, in divorce documents, which alleged that the pop icon had sent four men to kidnap Allman from a New York City hotel room, telling People magazine, “That rumor is not true.”
Cher’s legal moves come just two years after she took to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate the end of Britney Spears‘ high-profile conservatorship. “Thank God, I’ve talked [and prayed] about this [for] years,” she wrote. “I’m more than thrilled [for] her!! Bless our [superstar]. #FreeBritney.” Spears’ 13-year conservatorship came to an end on Nov. 12, 2021, after a passionate grassroots movement gained steam online to end the arrangement that gave her dad, James Spears, control of her personal and professional lives.
According to the court documents, a hearing has been scheduled for March 6, 2024. Billboard has reached out to representatives for Cher and legal representation for Elijah Blue Allman for further comment.
Last week, Cher returned to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in nearly 22 years. “DJ Play a Christmas Song,” the breakout hit from her first Christmas album, entered the tally at No. 94, marking her first appearance on the ranking since “Song for the Lonely” topped out at No. 85 in 2002. A few weeks prior, “DJ Play a Christmas Song” helped Cher become the first soloist in history to earn a new No. 1 on a Billboard songs chart in each of the seven decades from the 1960s through the 2020s (excluding the Bubbling Under Hot 100). “DJ” topped Dance/Electronic Song Sales on the chart dated Dec. 2, 2023.
A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled against Nirvana and revived a child pornography lawsuit filed by the man who appeared as a nude baby on the cover of the band’s 1991 album Nevermind.
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Spencer Elden, now in his 30s, claimed the photo – one of the most iconic album covers in rock history – violated federal child pornography laws by displaying a sexualized image of a minor. But a lower ruled last year that he had waited far too long to bring his lawsuit.
In a decision overturning that ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that each new republication of the image – including a highly-publicized 30th anniversary re-release in 2021 – could constitute a new “injury” to Elden that would reset the statute of limitations.
“Victims of child pornography may suffer a new injury upon the republication of the pornographic material,” Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta wrote for a three-judge panel. “This conclusion is consistent with the Supreme Court’s view that every viewing of child pornography is a repetition of the victim’s abuse.”
The ruling does not mean that Elden has won the case. The lawsuit will now return to a lower court, where he must actually prove that the image meets the definition of child pornography – something Nirvana vigorously disputes and some legal experts doubt.
In a statement to Billboard, Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler called the ruling a “procedural setback” that did not affect their core arguments: “We will defend this meritless case with vigor and expect to prevail.”
An attorney for Elden did not immediately return a request for comment.
Originally released Sept. 24, 1991, Nevermind reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 in January 1992 and ultimately spent 554 weeks on the chart. The album has sold more than 30 million copies and is widely considered one of the most influential in the history of popular music.
The album’s cover — a nude infant swimming in a pool chasing after a dollar attached to a fishhook — was long interpreted as an edgy critique of greed and capitalism. But in his 2021 civil lawsuit, Elden claimed it was something else entirely: the kind of “lascivious” display of a minor’s genitals that’s prohibited under federal child pornography statutes.
“Spencer’s true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor which has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to the present day,” he claimed at the time.
In addition to Nirvana’s corporate entity, the lawsuit also named Kurt Cobain’s estate, Universal Music Group, Dave Grohl and a number of other companies and individuals. The lawsuit was a civil action, and no allegations of criminal wrongdoing by anyone have been raised.
Nirvana sharply disputed that the image amounted to child pornography, but argued first that the case should be dismissed for a simpler reason: the statute of limitations. They cited the fact that Elden had seemingly endorsed his role in rock history on a number of occasions, including prior to the cutoff year for the 10-year statute of limitations.
“Long before 2011, as Elden has pled, Elden knew about the photograph, and knew that he (and not someone else) was the baby in the photograph,” the band claimed in its motion to dismiss the case. “He has been fully aware of the facts of both the supposed ‘violation’ and ‘injury’ for decades.”
In a ruling in September 2022, a federal judge agreed with Nirvana’s arguments. He ruled that the 10-year time limit began when a victim “reasonably discovers” either the crime or the injury caused by it – and that under either time limit, Elden had clearly filed his case too late.
But in Thursday’s decision, the Ninth Circuit said the time limits were more like those used in defamation cases and other “dignitary torts,” where a new repetition of the offending publication could give grounds to sue, despite the statute of limitations.
“The online dissemination of child pornography haunts victims long after their original images or videos are created,” the court wrote. “As the Supreme Court has explained, the victim’s knowledge of publication of the visual material increases the emotional and psychic harm suffered by the child.”
The court added later: “If a victim learns a defendant has distributed child pornography and does not sue, but then later learns the defendant has done so again many years later, the statute of limitations … does not prevent the plaintiff from bringing a claim based on that new injury.”
SiriusXM is facing a lawsuit from New York’s attorney general over allegations that the satellite radio and streaming service has made it “extremely difficult” for listeners to cancel their subscriptions.
In a complaint filed Wednesday (Dec. 20) in Manhattan court, Attorney General Letitia James’ office accused SiriusXM of subjecting canceling customers to “a lengthy and burdensome endurance contest,” which allegedly requires phone conversations with a live agent and extended time spent on hold.
“Sirius deliberately wastes its subscribers’ time even though it has the ability to process cancellations with the click of a button,” attorneys from James’ office wrote in the lawsuit. “The only reason Sirius requires cancelling subscribers to interact with a live agent at all is to maximize its opportunity to retain them as subscribers.”
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, James said it followed an investigation that showed SiriusXM was “trapping consumers” with its cancellation process, including by training its employees “not take ‘no’ for an answer.”
“Having to endure a lengthy and frustrating process to cancel a subscription is a stressful burden no one looks forward to, and when companies make it hard to cancel subscriptions, it’s illegal,” James said. “Consumers should be able to cancel a subscription they no longer use or need without any issues, and companies have a legal duty to make their cancellation process easy.”
Following the filing of the lawsuit, a spokeswoman for SiriusXM said the company would “vigorously defend against these baseless allegations,” saying that they “grossly mischaracterize” its practices.
“It’s telling that the New York Attorney General issued a press release before providing SiriusXM with a copy of the complaint,” the company statement said. “Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription.”
According to the new lawsuit, SiriusXM automatically renews subscriptions at the end of a term unless a user calls on the phone to cancel. The lawsuit claims that users are sometimes forced to wait as long as 25 minutes just to connect with an agent, who then subject them to a “six-part script” in which they are trained to repeatedly refuse to actually terminate the subscription.
“Sirius requires its live agents to present a series of renewal offers to retain the consumer as a subscriber,” the AG’s office wrote in the lawsuit. “But when a consumer declines an offer, or refuses to hear further offers, Sirius instructs its agents not to take ‘no’ for an answer.”
By doing so, SiriusSM forces subscribers to “devote inordinate amounts of time, patience, and stamina trying to cancel a subscription they no longer wish to pay for,” the lawsuit says, even though they have a “legal and contractual right to cancel anytime using a process that is simple and efficient.”
After a probation-reform bill became Pennsylvania law last Friday, chart-topping rapper Meek Mill teared up and a key music-business advocacy group echoed his support.
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“We are definitely happy about these results,” says Prophet, co-founder, president and CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition, a group of attorneys, artists, label executives and managers formed in 2020 to address racism in the industry. “No laws have completely given us what we need, but these are huge steps. If I were a governor in any state, I’d be looking at what Pennsylvania did and following suit — especially in an election cycle.”
In 2008, just as his music career was taking off, 18-year-old Mill was sentenced to prison for a drug and firearm conviction. A court overturned the ruling 11 years later, and earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s then-governor, Tom Wolf, pardoned him for the original charges. Mill, who lives in Philadelphia, has been on probation for much of his life, and has advocated for criminal-justice reform for years. After Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the legislation Friday, the rapper spoke of not being able to pick up his son from school in New Jersey due to parole regulations. “They labeled us felons,” he said at Friday’s ceremonial bill-signing. “I had to fight against that the whole time to gain my respect and be who I am today.”
The new Pennsylvania law passed a bipartisan state senate vote last Thursday, despite opposition from the ACLU, which said it will “risk making probation worse.” The law, known as Comprehensive Probation Reform, requires probation reviews after either two years or half of a misdemeanor sentence, or four years or half of a felony sentence. It also urges judges not to send people back to jail for minor technical parole violations.
“We all learned from Meek’s case because it shined a light on the injustices in our probation system,” Shapiro told reporters after signing the law.
In addition to praising the new Pennsylvania law, the BMAC’s Prophet predicted the result will inspire artists, people of color and young people to be more politically active. “What that does is trigger the alarm to many young people, a base that for the most part is either uninspired or not engaged, to see that they actually have political power,” he says. “The Black vote saved the 2020 election. We haven’t gotten a lot in return. Now the Democrats and the Republicans are going to be held to a level of accountability that hasn’t been seen before.”
“People are inspired. People are saying, ‘Look, Meek just changed the law,’” Prophet adds. “It’s that sort of simplicity of the process that inspires people.”
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Luke Combs apologizes after he accidentally sues a fan for $250,000; a Taylor Swift fan drops her lawsuit against Live Nation over the disastrous Eras presale; Lizzo fires back at one of the discrimination cases she’s facing; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Luke Combs Accidentally Sues A Fan
How on earth do you sue someone unintentionally? That’s what the entire music industry was asking last week after Luke Combs said he had been “utterly unaware” that he’d sued a Florida woman and won a $250,000 judgment against her — all over the sale of a few Combs-themed drinking mugs on the internet.
The answer: By adopting the same kind of mass-litigation tactics used by big retail brands to fight fake merchandise on the internet. Suing hundreds of people at once and notifying them by email gives companies — and, increasingly, music artists — a powerful tool to help stem a flood of confusing knockoffs, but some legal experts warn that such litigation can be “abusive.”
For more, go read our full story — on Combs’ apology to the fan, his underlying lawsuit, and the strange world of anti-counterfeiting litigation that it highlighted.
Other top stories this week…
YOUNGBOY HOUSE ARREST – A federal judge refused to alter the conditions of NBA YoungBoy‘s house arrest to let him spend more time in the recording studio creating music while he awaits trial on federal gun charges. The judge was unswayed by arguments from the rapper’s attorneys that his record sales have dropped because he has been unable to travel to the studio to “produce the quality of music that his fans expect.”
MJ ESTATE STRIKES AGAIN – Lawyers for the Michael Jackson estate quietly threatened to sue a pop culture collectibles website last week over plans to auction off unreleased Jackson studio recordings that the estate claimed were “unquestionably stolen,” resulting in the site withdrawing the materials from the sale.
MARILYN MANSON RULING – A California appeals court ruled that Marilyn Manson’s former assistant Ashley Walters could sue him for sexual assault, overturning an earlier decision that said she waited too long to bring her case. The appeals court said she potentially had “trauma-induced memory suppression” that rightfully delayed the filing of her case.
TICKETMASTER CASE SWIFTLY DROPPED – A Taylor Swift fan named Michelle Sterioff agreed to drop her class action against Ticketmaster parent Live Nation — one of two such cases filed in the wake of last year’s disastrous presale of tickets to the Eras Tour.
LIZZO HITS BACK – Lizzo’s attorneys fired back at a harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed by Asha Daniels, a former clothing designer for her tour — arguing that the accuser was nothing more than a “disgruntled” employee who had been fired after she “played hooky” on the day of a concert.