XXXTentacion’s murder has become a divisive topic for his own family.
X’s mother, Cleopatra Bernard has filed a lawsuit against X's half-sister, Ariana Onfroy, for defamation, libel and slander. In the suit, Bernard is looking for $15,000 in damages due to remarks Onfroy made that suggested Bernard organized the murder of her son, The Daily Beast reports.
“It is with such sadness and remorse that the tragic end of [Bernard’s] son’s life had to be muddied with the disgraceful and hatred [sic] words of his sister towards his own mother,” Bernard’s lawyers Aaron Behar wrote in the complaint. “Given [Onfroy’s] horrific and emotionally disturbing accusations made purely out of spite, Plaintiff cannot simply ignore the damage the comments have caused not only to her reputation, but also to her financial and business endeavors as well.”
The case references an interview Onfroy did with the British tabloid The Sun in September. In the story, titled “Inside Job: XXXTentacion’s sister claims rapper’s murder was set up by member of his inner circle,” Onfroy explains how she thinks there was another person involved in X’s death, besides the four men who have been charged with his murder.
“It was definitely an inside job,” she said. “There’s somebody on the inside that knew where he was going to be and the exact time he was leaving for the murderers to know when to come and to do what they did. It definitely was set up.”
While Onfroy doesn’t cite Bernard specifically—and doesn’t name anyone other than her half-brother throughout the interview—some of Onfroy’s comments alluded to Bernard.
For example, Onfroy alleges that someone won’t let her visit with her unborn nephew, X’s son. “They’re going to keep my nephew away from me,” she told The Sun. “My unborn nephew, they’re going to continue to keep that legacy going, that hatred, that evil, that dysfunction, that chaos, that anger.”
In another passage, she claims she’s also been forbidden from visiting X’s grave, even though it’s technically open to the public. “I can no longer visit his grave site due to them trying to do anything to break me down to keep me fearful of them,” Onfroy said. “It’s evil. What did I do to them? Why do they want to go as far as to try to hurt me in these ways, my brother’s gone what more can I do than just to visit his grave site and just to sit there and talk to them... Why be so evil and wicked to the person that was there for him most of the times when others weren’t there?”
While Bernard’s complaint doesn’t specify whether she did bar Onfroy from seeing her nephew or the grave site, it does state that Onfroy’s remarks “negligently and disgracefully convey to the readership that [Bernard] was at least partly responsible for the killing of her son.”
Behar’s evidence comes in the form of YouTube comments from a video recording of the interview. “I believe X sister, because X mom seems like a money hungry,” one user wrote. Another added: “Sounds like X mom set him up for the money and house honestly.”
According to The Daily Beast, Onfroy has spoken on Bernard before, in a now-deleted YouTube video on X. “His mother lies,” Onfroy said. “For no reason. She just lies, lies, lies. That woman, that woman is not a good woman.”
