George Floyd’s family has sued rapper Kanye West for $250 million after the latter claimed that Floyd died from an overdose.
George Floyd, 46, was murdered by Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020, after the disgraced Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Even though Chauvin has since been found guilty of murder and jailed, singer Kanye West recently made a bizarre comment in which he falsely claimed that Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose and that Chauvin “wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
“They hit [Floyd] with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” Kanye said.
“They said he screamed for his mama; mama was his girlfriend. It’s in the documentary.”
The rapper made the comment while appearing in the Drink Champs podcast that has since been deleted.
Following West’s comments, Roxie Washington, the mother of George’s daughter Gianna, launched a lawsuit in which she argues that the rapper made “false statements” to promote his brands and profit off of Floyd’s death and the family’s trauma.
“George Floyd’s daughter is being traumatized by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her,” The Witherspoon Law Group partner Nuru Witherspoon, who is representing the family, said.
The Floyd family’s legal team added: “Some words have consequences and Mr West will be made to understand that.”
The lawsuit comes just days after civil rights activist and attorney Lee Merritt hinted at a potential lawsuit against West from the Floyd family’s side.
“While one cannot defame the dead, the family of George Floyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” he tweeted on Sunday.
“Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines & diminishes the Floyd family’s fight.”
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