George Floyd’s family plans to file a $250 million lawsuit against Kanye “Ye” West for his false comments about Floyd during a recent episode of Revolt TV’s Drink Champs. The family is suing West, his business partners, and associates for “harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.” Their attorneys already sent West a cease-and-desist letter.
On Tuesday, Floyd’s family announced that Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd’s daughter Gianna, has hired the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law to represent them in filing the lawsuit against the rapper. The attorneys said a cease-and-desist letter was already sent. Gianna is the sole beneficiary of Floyd’s estate.
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“The interests of the child are the priority. George Floyd’s daughter is being retraumatized by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her,” attorney Nuru Witherspoon said in the statement. “Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life & to profit from his inhumane death,” attorney Pat D. Dixon III added. “We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd’s legacy.”
During his episode of Drink Champs, released over the weekend, West falsely claimed that Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose, not because former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. Although the medical examiner said there was an amount of nonlethal fentanyl in Floyd’s system, Floyd’s cause of death was determined to be “Cardiopulmonary arrest due to neck compression.”
In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison, minus credit for time served. In December 2021, he pled guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights. In July, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison, and the two jail terms will run concurrently.
The Drink Champs episode, which also included more disturbing anti-Semitic remarks from West, has since been removed, although some clips can still be seen on the show’s social media pages. On Tuesday, a representative for the show told Complex the episode was removed due to “false and hurtful information” about Floyd’s murder. Co-host N.O.R.E. also apologized on The Breakfast Club and insisted he did not support anything West said.
“Drink Champs prides itself on its ability to allow a free flow of ideas within the hip-hop community. That being said, unfortunately, the recent interview with Kanye West contained false and hurtful information regarding the circumstances surrounding the murder of George Floyd,” the show’s rep said. “Integrity is very important and we don’t want to promote false narratives on our platform. Our goal is to celebrate the culture. Therefore, we had no choice but to remove the episode from distribution. We apologize to the family of Mr. Floyd and anyone else hurt by this episode.”
