Kevin Hart is suing his former assistant and a YouTuber, who allegedly demanded a six-figure payout not to publish what the actor claims is a defamatory interview.
via: Radar Online
Hart demanded his lawsuit against Tasha K for alleged civil extortion NOT be delayed due to the blogger’s ongoing bankruptcy battle with Cardi B.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the comedian asked a court to allow his civil lawsuit to move forward despite Tasha being in the middle of a Chapter 11 case.
Last month, Kevin sued Tasha and his ex-assistant Miesha Shakes. He said Miesha sat down for an interview with Tasha where she spread false accusations about him.
Before the interview was published, Kevin said one of Tasha’s associates reached out to him. He said the interview would not be posted IF Kevin coughed up $250k.
Kevin said he refused to pay and called the police to file a report. He fired off a cease and desist to Tasha that warned her Miesha was under a non-disclosure agreement and the interview was not only defamatory but a breach of the agreement.
Tasha blew off the legal threat and published the video.
A couple of weeks after he filed his suit, Kevin filed a motion pleading for a temporary restraining order and injunction — which would force Tasha to remove the video.
He told the court, “Working in the entertainment industry, my livelihood depends in large part on my reputation and the public’s perception of me. That perception is of particular concern in light of the fact that I am involved in a number of family-oriented projects, such as the Jumanji franchise, Fatherhood, Captain Underpants, the Secret Life of Pets, and others.”
Tasha’s company Yelen Entertainment opposed the request and cited the First Amendment in its argument.
At a recent hearing, the judge denied Kevin’s request for a temporary restraining order. Tasha has yet to respond to the allegations in the complaint.
However, earlier this month, a lawyer representing Tasha asked the lawsuit to be put on pause due to Tasha’s ongoing bankruptcy.
Last year, Tasha filed for bankruptcy months after being hit with a $4 million judgment in the lawsuit brought by Cardi B.
Cardi accused Tasha of spreading lies about her in a series of YouTube videos. The Bodak Yellow rapper testified that the claims caused her extreme emotional distress.
After being awarded the millions, Cardi started to seize Tasha’s assets. Tasha then filed for bankruptcy which caused all collection efforts by Cardi to be paused.
At the moment, Cardi is fighting to view Tasha’s financial records as part of her Chapter 11 in hopes of collecting on her judgment.
In his new motion, Kevin objected to Tasha being allowed to pause his suit due to her bankruptcy. He said the claims in his lawsuit pertain to an incident that happened AFTER Tasha filed for bankruptcy.
He said the automatic bankruptcy stay — which pause a debtor’s ongoing legal actions until the resolution of a bankruptcy — doesn’t apply here because the alleged civil extortion happened AFTER she filed her initial petition.
A judge has yet to rule on Kevin’s plea for his case to move forward.
