Darrylene Corniel, mother of the late Drakeo the Ruler, told Rolling Stone that she plans on filing a lawsuit in wake of his death backstage at the Once Upon a Time festival in Los Angeles over the weekend.
“We plan to sue,” Corniel said. “This happened backstage at an event. Someone has to be held accountable.” She believes the blame lies on the shoulders of venue security over their inability to control whatever transpired that led to his stabbing.
“He was hit in his neck. I saw him when I went to the hospital,” she recalled. “They said it’s a homicide, so I wasn’t able to hug him or kiss him or anything like that. I had to look at him through a window.”
“I need this to be out there. I need people to know. And I do want justice for my son. And I do believe that justice will be served,” she said, adding, “I will not rest until justice is served.” A Live Nation spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that an altercation occurred “in the roadway backstage,” but didn’t provide any other details.
After speaking with witnesses, Corniel believes Drakeo and his brother Ralfy the Plug were accompanied by a small group of people backstage when an even larger group, totaling “like 40 to 60 people,” arrived around the same time as YG, and “swamped” her son and his entourage. “Everything just happened so quickly,” she said. “They started trying to jump them.”
She said Ralfy did what he could to help defend Drakeo, only to realize that he had been stabbed. Corniel considers his death to be the result of “jealousy and envy” from others who wanted to knock him down as his star continued to ascend.
Corniel went on to say that she cannot understand why those in charge allowed so many people to enter backstage.
“They let all these people in, and you’re not supposed to have all these people backstage. And your security is supposed to be in place,” she said. “The whole program should have been orchestrated a lot better than what it was. And there should have been more protection. Even if you have metal detectors, even if you pat them down, you let those people come in there. You had more people come in than you were supposed to. And you allowed them to jump my son. You didn’t protect my son.”
Elsewhere in the interview with Rolling Stone, Corniel said her son “had a good heart.” She continued, “He took care of those around him because I taught him that, to watch out for everybody… People who really know my son knew he was a real individual. He had a genuine heart.”
