Legal news
![Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/two-people-killed-one-other-in-critical-condition-following-crowd-crush-at-londons-o2-academy-brixton-updated-1050x600.jpg)
![Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/two-people-killed-one-other-in-critical-condition-following-crowd-crush-at-londons-o2-academy-brixton-updated-80x80.jpg)
Two People Killed, One Other In Critical Condition Following Crowd Crush at London’s O2 Academy Brixton [UPDATED]
Two people died and another individual was left in critical condition on Thursday night following a crowd crush outside London’s O2 Academy Brixton, The Guardian and The New York Times report. Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, died on Saturday morning. Gabrielle Hutchinson, 23, who was working as a contracted security provider, passed away on Monday morning. A third woman, 21, still remains in the hospital in critical condition. A total of eight people were hospitalized after the incident, which occurred during a performance by Nigerian Afrobeats artist Asake. Metropolitan police arrived the south London venue around 9:35 p.m. after reports that an overwhelming number of people were attempting to force entry into the venue; the injuries are “believed to have been caused by crushing”...
Skateboarding Fleetwood Mac TikTok Star Arrested for Marijuana Possession
Nathan Apodaca, the TikTok user aka 420doggface208 who went viral in 2020 for his skateboarding clip set to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams,” was arrested by Idaho State Police after being found in possession of marijuana. TMZ reports that Apodaca was stopped by police because of an expired registration tag. After observing edibles in his vehicle, officers conducted a search and found three packages of THC gummies and a scraping tool with a sticky residue. Apodaca was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors: possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked and released on $600 bond, according to arrest records. Advertisement Related Video In a statement to TMZ, Apodaca claimed that he was not read his Miranda rights during the traffic stop, and was falsely charged wit...
Megan Thee Stallion Trial Bombshell: Ex-Friend Claims Tory Lanez Shot Rapper, Offered $1M Bribe in Recorded Interview
In a bombshell recorded interview played in open court on Friday (Dec. 16), Kelsey Harris, Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant, claimed several times that she saw Tory Lanez shoot the “Savage” rapper and then bribed her and Harris to keep quiet — contradicting her in-court testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. Judge David Herriford allowed prosecutors to play the entire 80-minute recording in front of the jury on day five of the blockbuster trial, in which Lanez is charged, among other things, with shooting Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020. The interview — clips from which were previously played in court during Harris’ two-day stint on the witness stand — was conducted on Sept. 14, 2022, in the presence of Deputy District Attorneys Kathy Ta and Alexander Bott, senior investi...
Megan Thee Stallion’s Ex-Assistant Denies Tory Lanez Threatened or Bribed Her on Day 4 of Trial
Kelsey Harris, Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant, returned to court Thursday (Dec. 15) to complete her testimony on the fourth day of the high-profile trial over whether Tory Lanez shot Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020 — and like on Wednesday, the witness raised the ire of attorneys on both sides of the case with incomplete and often contradictory testimony. During Harris’ previous turn on the stand on Wednesday, Megan’s former friend and assistant failed to recall much of a September 2022 interview she did with Deputy District Attorneys Kathy Ta and Alexander Bott and another investigator. Ultimately, she testified that parts of that interview, during which she gave a detailed account of what happened the night of the shooting more than two years prior, “weren’...
Dave Chappelle Attacker Sentenced to Nine Months in Jail
Isaiah Lee, the man who attacked comedian Dave Chappelle on stage at the Hollywood Bow in May, has pleaded no contest and been sentenced to 270 days in a county jail, Deadline reports. Lee was charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and entering a restricted area during a live event. The 24-year-old is currently locked up on an unrelated charge, with authorities alleging that he stabbed his roommate at a transitional housing facility last year. His lawyers has sought to place him in a pretrial intervention program designed to help people with behavioral or mental health issues, but the judge rejected the request. Chappelle had been performing at Netflix Is a Joke Fest when Lee stormed the stage and attempted to tackle him. Chappelle was brought to the ground but escaped u...
Megan Thee Stallion’s Ex-Assistant Contradicts Earlier Statements, Invokes Fifth Amendment During Day 3 of Tory Lanez Trial
Megan Thee Stallion‘s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris took the stand Wednesday (Dec. 14) on the third day of the highly publicized trial over whether Tory Lanez shot Megan in the foot on July 12, 2020. During Harris’ testimony — which saw her become increasingly hesitant about answering Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta‘s questions about what happened on the night in question — a recording from an interview she gave to Ta, Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott and an investigator in September 2022 was played in court to try to jog her memory. During a portion of that earlier interview, Harris could be heard claiming that Lanez had also threatened to shoot her on the car ride back from Kylie Jenner‘s house prior to the shooting. But in a surprising turn, Harris recante...
Gunna to Be Released from Prison After Pleading Guilty in Racketeering Charge
Gunna is set to be released from prison after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge against him, Young Thug, and 26 other associates, local Atlanta news outlets report. The rapper — born Sergio Kitchens — entered an Alford plea, a type of negotiation in which a defendant still maintains their innocence, but admits that evidence would likely result in a guilty verdict if the case were to go to trial. Gunna had been sentenced to five years with one being served in prison. The remaining four years of his sentence have been suspended and will be subject to special conditions, including 500 hours of community service. Advertisement Related Video “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been intervie...
Megan Thee Stallion Delivers Tearful Testimony During Day 2 of Tory Lanez Trial: ‘I Wish He Had Just Shot & Killed Me’
Megan Thee Stallion appeared in Los Angeles court Tuesday (Dec. 13) on the second day of the closely-watched trial over whether Tory Lanez shot her in the foot on July 12, 2020. The rapper was met with a legion of her supporters at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, several of whom held a big, black “WE STAND WITH MEGAN” banner during a rally that was organized by non-profit The Gathering of Justice in conjunction with multiple women’s and violence prevention organizations. The Grammy winner arrived at the courthouse wearing a blunt shoulder bob and bold purple suit — a fitting color choice that symbolizes awareness of domestic violence, especially against women. Once on the stand, Stallion’s voice cracked after L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta, one of the pro...
The Legal Beat: Taylor Swift Ends ‘Shake It Off’ Battle – Plus Megan Thee Stallion, Nick Carter & 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: Taylor Swift ends a long-running copyright case over the lyrics to “Shake It Off,” Tory Lanez heads to trial over accusations that he shot Megan Thee Stallion, Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is accused of sexually assault, and much more. THE BIG STORY: Taylor Swift’s Accusers Drop “Shake It Off” Case It was the next big music copyright case – until it wasn’t. After five long years of litigation, and with just a month to go until a scheduled trial, attorneys for Taylor Swift reached an agreement Monday with songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler to end their copyright infringement lawsuit cl...
Tory Lanez Allegedly Shot Megan Thee Stallion Because She ‘Insulted His Skills as a Musical Artist,’ Court Hears
Opening statements kicked off the highly anticipated trial over whether Tory Lanez shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot two years ago. Los Angeles prosecutors hope to convict Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson) of three felony charges over the July 12, 2020 incident, in which he allegedly shot Stallion in the foot during an argument after a pool party in the Hollywood Hills. In October 2020, he was charged with one count of assault with a firearm and another gun possession charge. On Dec. 6, 2022, just one week before the trial began, the L.A. district attorney’s office added a new, third count of discharging a firearm with gross negligence. If convicted on all three charges, Lanez faces 22 years in prison. Yet Lanez, 30, has maintained his innocence and looked poised to fight for it while ...
Taylor Swift “Shake It Off” Copyright Lawsuit Dropped One Month Ahead of Trial
Taylor Swift has reached an agreement with two songwriters who allege some of the lyrics to her 2014 hit “Shake It Off” were lifted from 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” to drop their copyright lawsuit, which had been going on for five years. Attorneys for both Swift and songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler participated in a joint filing asking a judge to “[dimiss] this action in its entirety” (via Billboard) ahead of the scheduled trial, which was set to begin in January 2023. The public filings didn’t disclose any terms of the presumed settlement, like a change in songwriting credits or an exchange of money. Hall and Butler filed the lawsuit back in September 2017, claiming “Shake It Off” stole the lyrics “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” from “Playas Gon’ Play.” US District Judge ...
Mexican Government to Fine Ticketmaster for Overselling Bad Bunny Tickets
Taylor Swift isn’t the only artist with greater demand than Ticketmaster can handle. The government of Mexico said it would fine Ticketmaster for its alleged mismanagement of ticket sales to Bad Bunny’s recent concerts in Mexico City, where hundreds of people were denied entry due to having “counterfeit” tickets. Bad Bunny’s Mexico City concerts on December 9th and 10th were the last two dates in his “El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo” tour, and around 80,000 people were in attendance. Many more people found themselves stuck outside the venue after being sold an “unprecedented number” of fake tickets to the shows. “This caused an unusual overcrowding and the intermittent operation of our system, which generated confusion and complicated entrance to the stadium, with the unfortunate consequence that...
