Legal news
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...
Justin Bieber and The Weeknd Sued Over Alleged Bored Ape NFT Scheme: ‘Drastically Inflated Prices’
Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd and dozens of other celebrities are facing a new class action alleging they were secretly paid to “misleadingly” promote NFTs like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, leaving investors with “staggering losses.” In a complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, attorneys for a pair of consumers claimed that Bored Ape parent company Yuga Labs Inc. perpetrated a “vast scheme” in which they “discreetly” paid “highly influential celebrities” to pump up the value of the NFTs (non-fungible tokens). “Defendants’ promotional campaign was wildly successful, generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales,” the lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote. “The manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions … were able to artificially increase the interes...
“Nevermind Baby” Spencer Elden Appeals Child Pornography Suit Dismissal
Spencer Elden, better known in the music world — and now, perhaps, the legal world — as the “Nevermind Baby,” has appealed a September dismissal of his child pornography lawsuit against Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, Universal Music Group, and Kirk Weddle, the latter of whom photographed a four-month-old Elden naked for the iconic cover art of Nirvana’s classic 1991 album. Now 31, Elden filed his first lawsuit stemming from the Nevermind cover back in August 2021, claiming that Nirvana had engaged in a “sex trafficking venture” by distributing the photo and were intending to “trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer.” The defendants successfully filed a motion to dismiss the suit the following December, which Elden refiled weeks later. The suit was eve...
Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun Estate & Others Hit with Sexual Misconduct Suit by Former Employee, Dorothy Carvello
Just days after Atlantic Records and the estate of its late co-founder Ahmet Ertegun were hit with a sexual assault lawsuit filed by a former employee, the entities are now facing a second complaint detailing similar allegations of abuse –– only this one casts a wider net. On Sunday (Dec. 4), Dorothy Carvello – a former A&R executive with the label and author of music-industry expose Anything for a Hit – filed suit against Atlantic, the label’s parent company Warner Music Group, Ertegun’s estate, former Atlantic co-CEO & co-chairman Doug Morris and former chairman and CEO Jason Flom. In the exhaustive complaint, Carvello alleges she was “horrifically sexually assaulted” by Ertegun and Morris and that Atlantic, WMG and Flom (then an Atlantic vp) enabled the abuse. “During her employ...
Gunman Who Shot Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker Sentenced to 21 Years in Prison
James Howard Jackson, the man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, in 2021 before making off with two of her French bulldogs, was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Jackson, 20, pleaded no contest to attempted murder with great bodily injury in a Los Angeles courtroom December 5th. In a last-minute plea deal, the gunman admitted to a prior strike, allowing prosecutors to drop related robbery and weapons charges. In February 2021, Jackson and two associates confronted Fischer, 41, on a Hollywood street and demanded he turn over Gaga’s three French bulldogs. The men were not aware that the dogs belonged to the pop star, but knew they were of a rare and expensive breed. When Fischer refused to give them the dogs, Jackson shot him with a .40-caliber handgun at close range. The bullet p...
Man Who Shot Lady Gaga’s Dog Walker Sentenced to 21 Years in Prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole her French bulldogs last year took a plea deal and was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Monday (Dec. 5), officials said. The Lady Gaga connection was a coincidence, authorities have said. The motive was the value of the French bulldogs, a breed that can run into the thousands of dollars, and detectives do not believe the thieves knew the dogs belonged to the musician. James Howard Jackson, one of three men and two accomplices who participated in the violent robbery, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Jackson and others drove around Hollywood, the city of West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley on Feb. 24, 2021 “looking for French bulldo...
Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster Over “The Eras Tour” Pre-Sale
Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” broke Ticketmaster when its pre-sale launched, so much so that the general sale never even occurred. Now, scorned Swifties are suing the ticketing platform over its alleged mismanagement of the sale. As TMZ reports, a group of Swift fans initiated the lawsuit in Los Angeles County, where Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation is based. Alleging fraud, price fixing, and antitrust violations, the suit accuses Ticketmaster of, at best, being ill-prepared for the demand “The Eras Tour” would spur, and at worst, “intentional deception.” For instance, representatives for the company said that they had only planned for 1.5 million fans to buy tickets during the November 15th pre-sale, with a waitlist designed for an additional two million prospective buyers. Inst...
Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster Over “The Eras Tour” Pre-Sale
Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” broke Ticketmaster when its pre-sale launched, so much so that the general sale never even occurred. Now, scorned Swifties are suing the ticketing platform over its alleged mismanagement of the sale. As TMZ reports, a group of Swift fans initiated the lawsuit in Los Angeles County, where Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation is based. Alleging fraud, price fixing, and antitrust violations, the suit accuses Ticketmaster of, at best, being ill-prepared for the demand “The Eras Tour” would spur, and at worst, “intentional deception.” For instance, representatives for the company said that they had only planned for 1.5 million fans to buy tickets during the November 15th pre-sale, with a waitlist designed for an additional two million prospective buyers. Inst...
