George Floyd’s family is suing Kanye West for $250 million following his comments on a recent episode of “Drink Champs”.
A Minneapolis police officer was convicted of murdering Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes in May 2020 while he was face down on the ground, with a video of the incident sparking mass protests around the globe.
Ever since the video went viral, some have falsely claimed that Floyd, who had some drugs in his system, had actually died of an overdose unrelated to officer Derek Chauvin’s actions.
West said during the podcast episode, which has since been deleted: “They hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
READ MORE: Family Of George Floyd Considering Lawsuit Against Kanye West Over False Overdose Claims
It’s now been revealed that Roxie Washington, who is the mother of Floyd’s daughter Gianna, has filed the massive lawsuit against the rapper following his controversial comments.
Complex reported that a press release stated that Washington “had retained the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law to file the suit.”
“Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death,” attorney Pat D. Dixon III said, according to the publication, adding that the aim was to “hold Mr. West accountable” for his “flagrant remarks” against the late Floyd.
Washington is also suing West’s “business partners” and “associates” over the false comments, which resulted in “harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”
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Complex reported that “Drink Champs” co-host N.O.R.E. had since made it clear that he didn’t agree with West’s remarks.
“I don’t support none of it,” he said on “The Breakfast Club”. “I don’t support the George Floyd comments, I don’t support the anti-Semitic [comments]. That’s all I have is Jewish friends, all I have is Black friends. That’s it.”
A statement confirmed that the episode had been removed due to “false and hurtful information” regarding Floyd’s killing, also apologizing to his family and anyone else that had been hurt by the comments.
“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,” a podcast 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.”