George Floyd’s Family Moves Forward With $250 Million Lawsuit Against Kanye West

BYCole Blake6.0K Views
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WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 11: (AFP OUT) Rapper Kanye West speaks during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval office of the White House on October 11, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Oliver Contreras - Pool/Getty Images)
George Floyd’s family is planning to sue Kanye West for $250 million in damages after his recent "Drink Champs" appearance.

Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd's daughter, is planning to sue Kanye West for $250 million in damages regarding the rapper's recent appearance on Drink Champs, where he blamed Floyd's death on fentanyl. Police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of the murder of Floyd in 2021 and has since been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Washington's lawsuit accuses West of making “blatantly false statements” about Floyd’s death to “promote his brand and increase marketing value and revenue for himself, his business partners, and associates.”

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

While there are no legal grounds for defamation regarding a dead person, Washington's legal team claims that the comments have had the same damaging effect on Floyd's family and more specifically, his daughter.

“The interests of the child are priority,” said Nuru Witherspoon of the Witherspoon Law Group, according to Rolling Stone. “George Floyd’s daughter is being retraumatized by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her.”

Attorney Pat D. Dixon, III, of Dixon & Dixon, added: “Kanye’s comments are repugnant to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death. We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd’s legacy.”

Another civil rights attorney, Lee Merritt, explained to Rolling Stone that the recent $1 billion judgment against Alex Jones that was brought by the parents of Sandy Hook could lay the legal roadmap for how the Floyd family will proceed.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
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