Legal
Dua Lipa Hires Katy Perry & Jay-Z’s Lawyer to Handle ‘Levitating’ Lawsuits
Facing a pair of copyright lawsuits over her smash hit song “Levitating,” Dua Lipa has lawyered up – hiring the same attorney who won similar cases for Katy Perry, Jay-Z and Drake. Dua has retained Christine Lepera and her law firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp to represent her in both lawsuits, court records show, including one filed in New York that claims she ripped off a 1979 disco track, and another in California that claims she stole material from a 2017 reggae song. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Lepera is a go-to defense attorney in such cases. In just the last two years, she has won rulings defeating such cases against Jay-Z – he was accused of illegally sampling a 1960s soul song on “Paper Chase” – and against Drake, who was sued f...
Marilyn Manson Ex-Assistant’s Abuse Lawsuit Dismissed
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit against Marilyn Manson on Wednesday (May 25) filed by his former personal assistant. The documents, received by Billboard, cite the statute of limitations as the reason for dismissal, as the incidents occurred in 2010 and 2011. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The judge dismissed the case with prejudice, prohibiting plaintiff Ashley Walters from refiling the charges. Walters originally filed her lawsuit against Manson (real name Brian Warner) in May 2021, alleging sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. She also named his label, Marilyn Manson Records Inc., as a co-defendant. Manson has since denied all c...
Travis Scott Caused Stampede at Rolling Loud Miami in 2019, Lawsuit Says
Travis Scott is facing new accusations that he caused a 2019 stampede at Rolling Loud in Miami, including by flatly ignoring police demands to shut down the “dangerous and uncontrollable” concert. Scott, who is separately facing hundreds of legal claims over the deadly Astroworld festival, was added last month as a defendant to an existing lawsuit filed against Rolling Loud’s organizers in 2020 by Marchelle Love, a woman who says she was severely injured during the May 2019 incident. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the latest version of the complaint, Love’s attorneys claim that police rushed backstage shortly after Scott began his set and demanded that he stop performing because the crowd was getting unsafe – a plea that the star ra...
Ex-‘American Idol’ Star Caleb Kennedy Granted Bond in Fatal Car Crash
A South Carolina judge granted bond on Friday (May 20) to the former American Idol contestant accused of barreling into a man with his pickup truck and killing him. Caleb Kennedy, 17, received a $50,000 bond and was ordered to receive mental health treatment while in home detention, news outlets reported. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The country music singer had been jailed since February on a charge of driving under the influence resulting in the death of 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris. Police say Kennedy drove his truck up a private driveway in Spartanburg County and struck Larry Duane Parris, 54, pushing Parris into a building. A toxicology report showed that Kennedy had marijuana and Prozac in his system at the time. Ke...
Fyre Festival Founder Billy McFarland Released From Prison to Halfway House
McFarland has been released from the Milan Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan, where he was being held, according to the Bureau of Prisons website and confirmed by his attorney Jason Russo. He is now under the management of Residential Reentry Management New York — the administrative office overseeing halfway houses located in southern New York, eastern New York and New Jersey. TMZ first reported the news. McFarland’s release date from the halfway house is currently set for Aug. 30. In 2018, McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after admitting to defrauding investors in the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival, which was promised to be a luxury destination music event with extravagant promotion from A-list celebrity influencers. But when ticket-holders showed up to the ...
Mac Miller Drug Supplier Gets 17 Years in Prison for Selling Fatal Pills
A California man charged with supplying fentanyl-laced pills before Mac Miller’s fatal 2018 overdose was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years in prison. At a hearing in Los Angeles federal court, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright sentenced Stephen Andrew Walter to 210 months in prison over his role in Miller’s death. As part of a November plea deal, Walter admitted to supplying a drug dealer with the counterfeit oxycodone pills that ultimately made their way to Miller. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Walter pleaded guilty to a single count of fentanyl distribution, which carries a mandatory 20-year sentence. But under the agreement, federal prosecutors only requested 17 years and 6 months. An attorney for Walter did not immediately r...
Young Thug Lawyer Alleges ‘Inhumane’ Conditions in Jail, Appeals for Release
On Friday (May 13), a lawyer for Young Thug filed an emergency motion with the Georgia Superior Court alleging that the rapper has been jailed in “inhumane” conditions and requesting he be granted an “expeditious” bond hearing or be placed in a “non-torturous” environment while behind bars. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Specifically, the State of Georgia, by and through its public officials, has detained Mr. Williams in dungeon-like conditions,” wrote attorney Brian Steel in the filing (Young Thug’s real name is Jeffrey Williams). Those conditions are said to consist of “solitary confinement/total isolation”; a “windowless cement compartment with only a bed and a toilet and an overhead light which remains on 24 hours per day, prevent...
Prosecutors Defend Delay in Jam Master Jay Murder Charges, Citing Witness Intimidation
Federal prosecutors are firing back at claims that they waited too long to bring charges over the murder of Run-D.M.C.’s Jam Master Jay, saying at least part of delay was because the defendants themselves tried to “intimidate and silence potential witnesses.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The new filing came a month after Karl Jordan, Jr. and Ronald Washington. argued that the long wait – they were charged in 2020 for Jay’s long-unsolved 2002 murder – means that they wouldn’t be able to properly defend himself against the accusations. In a response Monday, prosecutors said those claims “ring particularly hollow” because bringing charges in the famous cold-case was made even more difficult thanks to interference by the two accused killers. “Th...
Astroworld Victims’ Attorneys Now Say Over 4,900 People Were Injured
More than 4,900 people were injured in some capacity at the deadly Astroworld music festival, according to the latest tally by the attorneys representing victims. That’s a substantially higher total than previously claimed. When the litigation over the disaster was combined into a single large lawsuit in late January, the attorneys involved listed 387 separate cases, with estimates of roughly 2,800 alleged victims. But “tag along” cases were expected, and one filing said new claims were “being filed nearly every day.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Several months later, it appears that the number of people who have made claims in the case has ballooned. A new filing on Monday listed 4,932 total alleged victims. In addition to 10 people...
Dave Chappelle Attack Suspect Charged With 4 Misdemeanors
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed four misdemeanor charges on Thursday (May 5) against suspect Isaiah Lee after the onstage attack of comedian Dave Chappelle during his set at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday. This follows the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office announcing earlier in the day that it declined to pursue felony charges. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office has filed charges of battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance and commission of an act that delays an event or interferes with a performer. “This alleged attack has got to have consequences,” Feuer said, in part, in video footage po...
Judge Bans Tyga’s Sneakers After Vans Lawsuit: ‘Striking Visual Similarities’
A Brooklyn federal judge on Friday sided with Vans and banned all future sales of Tyga‘s “Wavy Baby” sneakers, ruling that they likely violated the sneaker company’s trademarks. Two days after a key hearing, U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz issued a temporary restraining order blocking a New York art collective called MSCHF from continuing to sell the sneaker – a surreal, warped version of Van’s classic Old Skool sneaker launched in collaboration with Tyga on April 18. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Vans sued MSCHF earlier this month, calling the Wavy Baby “blatant trademark infringement.” MSCHF argued back that the shoe was a work of art protected by the First Amendment, but Judge Kuntz was unswayed. “Despite defendant’s assertion...
Jury Deliberations Begin in Blac Chyna Vs. Kardashians Trial
Jurors began deliberations Thursday (April 28) in a trial over former reality television star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, whom she alleges spread false stories of abuse to ruin her television career. In her closing argument, Chyna’s attorney Lynne Ciani argued that it was unreasonable for the four women to have believed that her client violently attacked her former fiancé Rob Kardashian. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Forget who they are; forget about how famous they are,” Ciani told the jury. “Was it reasonable for the defendants to believe that their son or brother’s version of the events that he had been brutally attacked?” In emotional and often angry testimony, Ro...
