Legal news
Barbados May Seek Reparations from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Family for Slavery
Barbados has begun seeking reparations from the descendants of slave owners, as The Daily Beast reports, and that may soon include the family of Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch’s seventh great-grandfather bought the island’s Cleland plantation in 1728 and passed down ownership until 1834, when slavery was abolished in Barbados. That plantation reportedly exploited 250 enslaved people and became the foundation of the Cumberbatch family fortune, a fact that the actor hasn’t shied away from. In a 2007 interview, according to the New York Times, Cumberbatch revealed that his mother urged him to pursue his career under an alias specifically to avoid paying reparations. He has also said that he took his role in 12 Years a Slave because h...
Another Woman Files Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Bill Cosby, NBC
A woman who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1986 sued the comedian-actor, NBCUniversal and other companies Friday (Dec. 30) in New York, where five other women filed a similar lawsuit earlier this month. Stacey Pinkerton says she was a 21-year-old flight attendant and model that year when she claims Cosby drugged her at a restaurant in Illinois and took her back to a hotel room in Chicago. The lawsuit alleges Cosby “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with her while she was incapacitated from the drugs. The lawsuit comes more than a year after Cosby left prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she...
Steven Tyler Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Minor in New Lawsuit
Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has been accused of sexual assaulting a minor in a new lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend, Julia Holcomb. Tyler, then 27, began dating Holcomb shortly after her 16th birthday in 1975. Holcomb’s mother signed over her guardianship to Tyler, and the two moved in together at Tyler’s Boston home. She soon became pregnant, but then their relationship went south. Their apartment caught on fire, and she ended up in a hospital, during which time Tyler allegedly forced her to have an abortion. “When I returned home to my mother, I was a broken spirit,” Holcomb recounted in a 2011 essay. “I could not sleep at night without nightmares of the abortion and the fire. The world seemed like a dark place.” For his part, Tyler contends that the couple jointly decided to abo...
Judge Upholds Cardi B’s Win in Back Tattoo “Misappropriation” Trial
A California judge has upheld Cardi B’s win at a recent trial where jurors found her not liable for using a portion of plaintiff Kevin Brophy’s back tattoo on the cover of her 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, Rolling Stone reports. Brophy, a model, sued Cardi for $5 million in 2017, claiming the cover of the mixtape — which depicts a man apparently performing oral sex on the rapper — misappropriated his likeness by using an image of his tattoo, and that he was suffering “distress and humiliation” because of it. Brophy asked the court to toss their October 21st, 2022 verdict, which found Cardi not liable. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled Wednesday that Brophy’s request to toss that ruling had come too late and lacked merit, and subsequently ordered him to pay Cardi’s legal...
Tory Lanez Found Guilty on All Counts in Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Trial
Rapper Tory Lanez has been found guilty on all three counts in the closely-watched trial over whether he shot Megan Thee Stallion in the foot, ending a nearly two-week trial over the July 2020 incident and setting the stage for a potentially lengthy prison sentence. The verdict was handed down by a jury in Los Angeles court on Friday (Dec. 23). Lanez was convicted on all counts: assault with a semiautomatic firearm; carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle; and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He faces up to 22 years in prison. Upon the reading of the verdict, Lanez’s father, who was present in the gallery, began screaming. “This wicked system. Shame of all of you!” he cried out. In the course of the trial, Lanez’s defense team made their best effort to sow doubt ov...
Movie Studios Can Be Sued for Deceptive Trailers, Judge Rules
US District Judge Stephen Wilson has sided with two Ana de Armas’ fans in a lawsuit against Universal Pictures, Variety reports, ruling that movie studios can be sued for deceptive trailers under the California False Adverting Law and the state’s Unfair Competition Law. The plaintiffs rented the 2019 film Yesterday after seeing de Armas in the trailer, only to find that all of her scenes had been cut before the film’s release. They then sued Universal, who tried to get the lawsuit thrown out under the free speech protections granted by the First Amendment. “Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” Wilson wrote in his December 20th decision. “At its...
Journey’s Neal Schon Hits Bandmate Jonathan Cain with Cease and Desist over Mar-A-Lago Performance
Journey’s Neal Schon has hit bandmate Jonathan Cain with a cease and desist over Cain’s performance of “Don’t Stop Believin’” at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort. In November, Cain participated in a singalong of “Don’t Stop Believin’” with Trump sycophants Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Kari Lake. The performance struck a nerve with Schon, who fired off a cease and desist. “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarizes the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political,” Schon’s attorney wrote in a letter (via The Guardian). Advertisement Related Video “Mr. Cain’s unauthorized af...
Megan Thee Stallion Shooting Eyewitness Offers Confusing Testimony, Pegs Both Tory Lanez and Megan’s Ex-Friend as Shooter
Sean Kelly, an alleged eye witness to the 2020 incident in which Megan Thee Stallion was shot, offered confusing and contradictory testimony Tuesday (Dec. 20) about what really happened, saying he never actually saw a gun — but also that he saw a man matching Tory Lanez’s description holding one, and that Megan’s former friend and assistant Kelsey Harris may also have fired. During the seventh day of the blockbuster trial, Kelly (a key witness for Lanez’s defense team) testified that when he first looked outside his home on the night of the incident, he saw Megan and Harris kicking and punching each other outside of a vehicle. “They were pulling their hair and hitting each other. It was quite violent,” he told Lanez’s attorney George Mgdesyan. Shortly after a man matching the description o...
Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty of Rape in L.A. Trial as Jury Reveals Mixed Verdict
Harvey Weinstein on Monday (Dec. 19) was found guilty of rape in a Los Angeles trial. The conviction further cements his plunge from one of the most influential producers in Hollywood to the face of the #MeToo movement. But the jury acquitted Weinstein of sexual battery by restraint against a different Jane Doe accuser. Jurors also couldn’t reach a decision on three sexual assault charges, including rape. This trial centered on testimony from four women, all known as Jane Does in court, who accused Weinstein of raping or sexually assaulting them from 2004 to 2013. Four others also testified that they were assaulted, though their claims didn’t lead to charges. In total, prosecutors called 44 witnesses to the stand to make their case against the former movie mogul. Weinstein faced two c...
![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...
