Kanye West. Picture: Instagram
The mother of George Floyd’s daughter is planning to file a $250m (R4.5bn) lawsuit against Kanye West.
Roxie Washington, who is the mother of Gianna Floyd, is taking action against the 45-year-old rapper for harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress after he alleged George died as a result of fentanyl use and not as a result of police brutality.
Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon and Dixon Attorneys at Law confirmed that the family have already issued a cease-and-desist letter to West for having made “false statements about George Floyd’s death to promote his brands, and increase marketing value and revenue for himself, his business partners, and associates”.
According to “TMZ”, the letter reads in part: “Mr Floyd’s cause of death is well-settled through evidence presented in courts of law during the criminal and civil trials that were the result of his untimely and horrific death.
“Nevertheless, you have maliciously made statements that are inaccurate and unfounded, causing damage to Mr Floyd’s estate and his family.”
The Floyd family say the “Stronger” rapper’s statements were “blatantly false” and “malicious” and argue Gianna is being “retraumatised” by West’s comments, which are “creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her.”
The letter wants West to remove his statements about George – whose death kick-started the Black Lives Matter protests around the world – from the internet and stop talking about him.
West made his comments on the “Drink Champs” podcast earlier this week.
He said: “I watched the George Floyd documentary that Candace Owens put out. One of the things that his two roommates said was they want a tall guy like me, and the day that he died, he said a prayer for eight minutes.
“They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
The interview has now been removed from the “Drink Champs” YouTube channel and Revolt TV.
Former police officer Derek Chauvin was jailed for 22.5 years for murdering George by kneeling on his neck and back for over nine minutes.
Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr Andrew Baker previously testified that heart disease and fentanyl use had contributed to the man’s death, but were not the direct cause.