UPDATED 10/19/22, 2:50 p.m. ET: George Floyd’s daughter could go after Candace Owens in the previously announced lawsuit against Ye, TMZ reports. N.O.R.E. and Revolt TV could also be named in the suit as well, the legal team that’s representing Floyd’s daughter Gianna told the publication.
See original story below.
A $250 million lawsuit has been announced in response to the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s comments about the murder of George Floyd on a recent episode of Drink Champs.
In a press release on Tuesday, it was revealed that Roxie Washington, acting on behalf of her minor child (who is the sole beneficiary of Floyd’s estate) had retained the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law to file the suit against Ye. The suit sees Floyd’s daughter, represented jointly by the two firms, seeking $250 million in damages.
“Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death,” attorney Pat D. Dixon III said, adding that the goal here is to “hold Mr. West accountable” for his “flagrant remarks” against Floyd.
The suit is described in Tuesday’s press release as being against not only Ye, but also his “business partners” and “associates.” The argument is that Ye’s comments, which included false claims about Floyd’s murder, amounted to “harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”
As previously reported, Ye mentioned fentanyl and falsely suggested that Floyd didn’t die due to the actions of Minneapolis police. While a nonlethal amount of fentanyl was later found in Floyd’s system, the cause of death was formally determined to be homicide. Still, many right-wing voices have continued to make false or misleading claims about fentanyl in connection with Floyd’s death.
Now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was ultimately convicted in Floyd’s murder, which spurred a wave of nationwide protests against ongoing instances of police brutality in May 2020.
The Drink Champs episode in question, meanwhile, has since been removed from distribution. At the top of the week, co-host N.O.R.E. made multiple appearances during which he apologized for the contents of the episode and the handling of its release.
“I don’t support none of it,” N.O.R.E. said on The Breakfast Club. “I don’t support the George Floyd comments, I don’t support the antisemitic [comments]. That’s all I have is Jewish friends, all I have is Black friends. That’s it.”
In a statement shared on Tuesday, a Drink Champs rep said the Ye episode had been removed due to “false and hurtful information” on Floyd’s murder.
“Drink Champs prides itself on its ability to allow a free flow of ideas within the hip hop community. That being said, unfortunately, the recent interview with Kanye West contained false and hurtful information regarding the circumstances surrounding the murder of George Floyd,” the rep said. “Integrity is very important and we don’t want to promote false narratives on our platform. Our goal is to celebrate the culture. Therefore, we had no choice but to remove the episode from distribution. We apologize to the family of Mr. Floyd and anyone else hurt by this episode.”
