George Floyd’s family plans to file a $250 million lawsuit against Kanye West after comments he made about Floyd's death on the Drink Champs podcast, reports NPR.
The suit will be filed by Roxie Washington, the mother of Gianna Floyd ,George Floyd's only daughter and the sole beneficiary of his estate.
According to a statement, Washington plans to sue Ye, his business partners and associates for "harassment, misappropriation, defamation and infliction of emotional distress, seeking $250 million dollars in damages.”
"Kanye's comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd's life and to profit from his inhumane death," said her attorney Pat D. Dixon III in the statement. "We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd's legacy.”
Additionally, the family has issued a cease-and-desist letter to West for his offensive comments.
"Free Speech Rights do not include harassment, lies, misrepresentation and the misappropriation of George Floyd's legacy,” said Kay Harper Williams, another of Washington's attorneys. ”Some words have consequences and Mr. West will be made to understand that.”
During the podcast, Ye falsely suggested that fentanyl was the cause of Floyd’s death and not the Minneapolis police, echoing right-wing conspiracies about his murder. Although a non-lethal amount of fentanyl was discovered in Floyd’s system, the cause of death was officially determined to be a homicide.
For placing his knee on Floyd's neck for almost 10 minutes, Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder back in July.
After the fallout, Drink Champs pulled the episode and released a statement regarding West's appearance on the show.
"Drink Champs prides itself on its ability to allow a free flow of ideas within the hip-hop community," a representative for the show told The Hollywood Reporter. "That being said, unfortunately, the recent interview with Kanye West contained false and hurtful information regarding the circumstances surrounding the murder of George Floyd."
“Integrity is very important and we don’t want to promote false narratives on our platform,” the rep continued. "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.”
Drink Champs co-host N.O.R.E spoke with Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning about the controversial episode and offered an apology.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I can sit there and say, 'That's only Kanye West, it's only what he said.' But I have a responsibility when I have an audience. When I watched myself, I was embarrassed. I was like, 'Wait a minute? You just let him say that?' I'm irresponsible for letting it go."
