Legal news
Music Companies Must Now Include Salary Ranges on New York Job Postings
A new New York City law requiring employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings has officially gone into effect this week, with music companies hiring in the city mandated to comply. On the first day of the law, a picture of at least one of the major music companies’ salary ranges has come into focus. The day the law went into effect, several companies were criticized for overly-broad salary ranges that effectively subverted the point of the regulation, which was designed to give prospective employees insight into what they could be expected to earn at different companies in the city and address salary discrepancies between men and women and for people of color. The Wall Street Journal, for instance, posted reporting and producing jobs with ranges between $40,000 to $160,000; te...
The Legal Beat: Kanye’s Lawyers Cut Ties – Plus Slacker, Coachella and More
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: Major law firms cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments, Slacker fights with SoundExchange over a huge royalties judgment, Coachella sues a nearby business called “Coachillin,” and much more. THE BIG STORY: Kanye West Is Running Out of Lawyers After a string of antisemitic statements earlier this month, Kanye West has lost nearly every aspect of his once-formidable business empire. His representatives at CAA have dropped him, and his signature fashion partnerships with Adidas, The Gap and Balenciaga have all been terminated. You can now add his lawyers to that list. Cadwalader Wic...
Harvey Weinstein Defense Focuses on His Abnormal Testicles
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers are arguing during his Los Angeles sexual assault trial that his accusers are unreliable because their accounts failed to mention his abnormal testicles. The topic has already come up several times, Variety reports, and is expected to remain a focus of ensuing testimony. During opening statements to the jury, the prosecutor, deputy D.A. Paul Thompson, spoke about a 1999 surgery that relocated portions of Weinstein’s genitalia. “Because of an infection, his testicles were actually taken from his scrotum and put into his inner thighs,” he said. On October 24th, Jane Doe #1 took the stand. A European model who spoke with the help of a translator, she accused Weinstein of a violent hotel room assault in 2013. She said Weinstein forced her to perform or...
Elon Musk Officially Closes Twitter Deal, Fires Top Executives
After much deliberation and legal back-and-forth, Elon Musk has officially finalized his purchase of Twitter. He closed the $44 billion deal late on Thursday, October 27th. Per The Washington Post, one of Musk’s first moves was firing top Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety. The company’s general counsel, Sean Edgett, was also let go. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk wrote on Twitter prior to formalizing the deal. “I didn’t do it to make money. I did it to help humanity, whom I love.” Advertise...
Britney Spears’ Lawyer Says Jamie Spears Shared Pop Star’s Private Medical Information
Britney Spears‘ father and his lawyers should be sanctioned and found in contempt of court for disclosing confidential medical information on his daughter that was under seal, the pop star’s lawyer said Wednesday (Oct. 26) at a hearing that ended with no decision on the issue. “They’re trying to embarrass Britney Spears and bully Britney Spears, while trying to vindicate Jamie Spears,” said attorney Mathew Rosengart. The sealed exhibits were included in a motion from Jamie Spears filed in July to compel the deposition of his daughter, which was denied. After the filing was submitted, Rosengart was forced to move to seal the motion to compel. Alex Weingarten, representing Jamie Spears, challenged the sealing. “Why did he oppose the sealing motion?” Rosengart asked. He urged L.A. Superior Co...
Kanye West Hires Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Camille Vasquez Amidst Business Fallout
As business partners distant themselves following his latest public meltdown, Kanye West has reportedly hired Camille Vasquez, the lawyer who helped Johnny Depp win his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, to represent his interests. TMZ first reported that West hired Vasquez, a partner at the national law firm Brown Rudnick who became a sought-after rep for embattled celebrities after helping Depp win his case. The news comes after the rapper was dropped by Balenciaga following a slew of antisemitic comments he made on social media and in recently unearthed clips of his interview with Tucker Carlson. His comments — including a Tweet where he threatened to “Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” — have also cost him a relationship with JPMorgan Chase, and his relationship with adidas is curre...
Jury Rules Kevin Spacey Is Not Liable in Anthony Rapp Sexual Misconduct Case
A New York City jury has ruled that Kevin Spacey is liable for no damages at the conclusion of a contentious sexual misconduct lawsuit brought by Anthony Rapp, multiple outlets report. Rapp had sought $40 million. The jury took less than two hours to deliberate following closing arguments in the two-week trial. Rapp, who starred in Rent and Star Trek: Discovery, had said that when he was 14 years old, a 26-year-old Spacey made aggressive and unwanted sexual advances towards him. He alleged that Spacey physically lifted him in the air “like a groom picks up a bride,” and moved him to a bed in order to initiate sex. Rapp, now 50, took the stand during the trial, calling the encounter “incredibly upsetting” and the “most traumatic single event of my life.” Spacey...
Daycare Workers Facing Child Abuse Charges for Scaring Kids with Ghostface Mask
Earlier this month, a video went viral of a Mississippi daycare worker scaring kids in a classroom while wearing what appears to be a mask of Ghostface, the knife-wielding villain from the Scream film franchise. Now, after all being fired from the daycare, five former employees are facing child abuse charges for the incident. WTVA reports that Sierra McCandless, Oci-Anna Kilburn, Jennifer Newman, and Shyenne Shelton each face three counts of felony child abuse, and Traci Hutson faces failure to report abuse and simple assault against a minor, both misdemeanors. The charges follow investigations by the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. In the viral clip, which you can watch here, an unidentified daycare worker is seen wearing the Ghostface mask w...
The Legal Beat: Cardi B’s Bizarre Trial – Plus Gunna, Ed Sheeran & More
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly column 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: Cardi B goes to trial in a weird case over a bawdy album cover, Gunna is again refused bond in Atlanta, Ed Sheeran warns that a copyright ruling might “strangle” future songwriters and much more. THE BIG STORY: Cardi Heads to Trial Over Bawdy Album Cover In one of the weirder cases you’ll ever hear about, Cardi B is headed to a federal courthouse today to defend against claims that the cover of her debut mixtape “humiliated” a man named Kevin Brophy, who alleges he was unwittingly photoshopped into the artwork to make it look like he was performing oral sex on the now-superstar. Yes, you read that r...
Ezra Miller Pleads Not Guilty to Felony Burglary, Faces Up to 26 Years in Prison
Ezra Miller appeared remotely in Vermont Superior Court on Monday, October 17th and pleaded not guilty to felony burglary charges, Deadline reports. If convicted, they will face up to 26 years in prison and fines of up to $2,000. The embattled star of The Flash was arrested in August for charges stemming from a May break-in in Stamford, Vermont. They were accused of entering the at-the-time unoccupied house of neighbor Isaac Winokur and stealing bottles of gin, vodka and rum. “As a result of an investigation that included surveillance videos and statements, probable cause was found to charge Ezra M. Miller with the offense of felony burglary into an unoccupied dwelling,” the police report noted. As a condition of their release, Miller was told to stay away from Winokur and a...
George Floyd’s Family Considering Lawsuit Against Kanye West for Defamation
The family of George Floyd is considering a defamation lawsuit against Kanye West over comments he made on the Drink Champs podcast. “While one cannot defame the dead, the family of #GeorgeFloyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Floyd’s family, said in a statement posted to social media on Sunday. During the podcast, West asserted the false claim that Floyd died from fentanyl. “I watched the George Floyd documentary that Candace Owens put out… They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” West said. Advertisement Related Video While Floyd had a trace amount of fentanyl in his system, both a coroner and medical experts concluded that he died from a lack of oxygen c...
Jury Orders Alex Jones to Pay Nearly $1 Billion for Sandy Hook Lies
Alex Jones is a huckster, a conspiracy theorist, one of the worst people ever to work in media (and that’s saying something), and, perhaps soon, a negative billionaire. A Connecticut jury ruled on October 12th that the InfoWars founder must pay out $965 million for defamation after he spent a decade spreading lies about the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. As reported by Reuters, CNN, Variety, and more, the case had 15 plaintiffs, including family members of eight victims of the shooting, plus a former FBI agent. Jones has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the shooting never happened — that 28 people, including 20 children didn’t die — and that anyone claiming otherwise was a paid actor for a government plot to unlawfully confiscate American’s guns. Jones called the ma...
