Photo Credit: DaBaby Twitter
DaBaby has officially emerged victorious in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit that had accused him of breach of contract, battery, and more.
Drew Findling, the attorney for 30-year-old DaBaby (real name Jonathan Kirk), just recently posted on Instagram about the “clean sweep” his client had secured “in an attempted celebrity cash grab,” including for good measure several photos of him, his team, and the Baby on Baby 2 rapper.
One Kenneth Carey, a self-described “event planner, event organizer and promoter,” first levied the overarching complaint back in January of 2020, naming as defendants (besides DaBaby) rapper Stunna 4 Vegas (real name Khalick Caldwell), Interscope Records, and Universal Music, among others. (Steve Anyadike, who maintained that he’d been “assaulted and battered by DaBaby and his coconspirators,” later joined as a plaintiff.)
According to the straightforward original action, Carey had hired Stunna 4 Vegas to perform at a (since-shuttered) club on January 2nd, 2020, allegedly consenting to pay the artist $17,000 for the birthday-celebration gig. Meanwhile, Carey allegedly tapped DaBaby to serve as host for the evening in exchange for $20,000.
Predictably, given the legal battle, the purported arrangement didn’t go off without a hitch, as the original action alleged that DaBaby had demanded another $10,000 on top of the above-mentioned sum because “he normally would not appear for such a small amount” and “had accepted the agreement based on their positive past business relationship and friendship.”
Carey’s refusal to cough up the additional $10,000 prompted DaBaby and his entourage “to degrade into threats and threatening behavior and eventual battery and humiliation of Kenneth Cary [sic],” the first plaintiff maintained in the original suit. Then, DaBaby and his crew “proceeded to intentionally and savagely beat and embarrass Kenneth, to include robbing him of his money, phone and credit card,” per the original action.
“They pulled Kenneth’s pants down in public and DaBaby poured apple juice all over him, while laughing at him, taunting him and saying it looks like he peed himself,” the detail-oriented original suit claimed of the incident, part of which was captured on video.
But as mentioned, a jury has ruled in DaBaby’s favor following a five-day trial, including in a counteraction that he had filed against Carey and Anyadike. The jury specifically determined that the latter two individuals were liable for invasion of privacy and the unauthorized use of DaBaby’s name/likeness.
Lastly, Law.com has reported (in a paywall-blocked article) that Derrick C. Morales, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in a case against DaBaby, has been held in criminal contempt by the presiding judge and slapped with a $500 fine. And notwithstanding today’s win, DaBaby remains embroiled in several other legal battles, including a recently filed infringement suit concerning “Rockstar.”