Kanye West threatened with $250 million lawsuit from George Floyd's family
19 October 2022, 11:21 | Updated: 2 December 2022, 17:04
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The family of George Floyd are planning to sue Kanye West after the rapper speculated over his cause of death on a recent podcast.
The family of the late George Floyd are planning to sue rapper Kanye West after he questioned his cause of death on a recent podcast episode of 'Drink Champs'.
Kanye West suggested that George Floyd had died due to fentanyl, despite official reports ruling Floyd's death as a homicide and Derek Chauvin, a police officer, was convicted of murder and manslaughter.
Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd, has sued Kanye for $250 million (£221 million) for suggesting this cause of death in the interview, which has since been taken down.
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George Floyd died in May 2020, and it sparked global outrage and conversation about police brutality in America after white police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd.
In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty on three murder and manslaughter charges and is now serving prison sentences of 22 years.
One of the family's lawyers said: "The interests of the child are priority" and further elaborated: "George Floyd’s daughter is being re-traumatised by Kanye West’s comments, and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her."
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The lawyers have also sent a cease-and-desist letter to the rapper, according to a press release from the legal teams.
Another lawyer continued to slam West: "Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death. We will hold Mr. West accountable for his flagrant remarks against Mr. Floyd’s legacy."
The episode of Drink Champs has now been taken down from YouTube due to the comments about Floyd.
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A representative for Drink Champs told the Hollywood Reporter that it: "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."
They continued: "Therefore, we had no choice but to remove the episode from distribution. We apologise to the family of Mr. Floyd and anyone else hurt by this episode."
