George Floyd daughter suing Kanye West for false claim over his death
The mother of George Floyd's daughter has filed a $250 million lawsuit against Kanye West for spreading a falsehood about Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
The Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law are representing Roxie Washington, the mother of Gianna Floyd, in the filing.
Floyd's family had recently issued a cease-and-desist letter to the rapper, who now goes by "Ye," for his comments surrounding the May 2020 death. Floyd died as he was being arrested by Minneapolis Police officers, with former officer Derek Chauvin – since kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
West made comments on the podcast "Drink Champs," where he repeated the theory – which was disproven during Chauvin's murder trial – that Floyd died from a fentanyl overdose.
Talking about a documentary made by far-right personality Candace Owens, West claimed that Chauvin's knee "wasn't even on his neck" and that Floyd "died of fentanyl."
Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker testified during Chauvin's trial that while Floyd's heart disease and use of fentanyl were contributing factors, they were not the cause of his death. Multiple medical experts testified that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen because his neck was being kneeled on.
"Kanye West knowingly made blatantly false statements about George Floyd's death to promote his brands, and increase marketing value and revenue for himself, his business partners and associates," the lawsuit claims.
YouTube and other platforms have since removed the episode, but some clips remain on social media and other media outlets.
“The interests of the child are priority,” Attorney Nuru Witherspoon, partner at The Witherspoon Law Group, said. “George Floyd’s daughter is being traumatized by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her.”
The rapper has been locked out of his Twitter account and restricted on his Instagram over recent antisemitic posts he made. West also recently agreed to buy the right-wing social media platform Parler – which is run by Owens' husband, CNBC reports.
The lawsuit against West comes after far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay almost $1 billion for knowingly spreading falsehoods about the Sandy Hook massacre.
