rolling #metoo thread for sexual harassment in the music industry so no one misses out when artists we don't give a fuck about like Tim Westwood and Bassnectar get caught

Also… how do you get a settlement for a case without filing it first?

Oh, this happens all the time. Hard to quantify, but maybe 50% if there is insurance involved.

Also, my wife the attorney says that the case could not have settled in 24 hours as a result of the filing. Rather, letting her file the case was likely part of the negotiated settlement.

She also thinks all the statements around the filings by the parties were negotiated days or weeks in advance.

Why could it not have been settled in 24 hrs? Not doubting your wife, just curious.

Lots of reasons!

After the settlement, counsel on either side released statements that prior to the filing Cassie was demanding $30M and that Diddy offered "8 figures" (i.e. $10M or more) to make this go away before filing and to prevent Cassie from writing a book. She filed and my guess is she is going to write a book. It seems like she took less money to have the right to do that.

These are huge numbers and a big gap to overcome which likely took weeks or months of negotiation, not 24 hours. Once a financial agreement was reached, the actual language of the settlement agreement probably took days or weeks to negotiate.

It's also not likely they were negotiating for months and were close and she forced him into settlement by filing. A substantial portion of Cassie's leverage in negotiations ends the second she filed and made this all public - the cat is out of the bag. Once she does that, nothing is going to happen in the legal case for likely months until court conferences are scheduled and discovery starts. So the pressure to settle actually lessens once she files, not increases. The pressure to settle would likely increase again later with the potential for leaks from depositions, court filings, etc. and reach the greatest point right before a trial.

TLDR, cases of this magnitude with these numbers and this potential publicity don't just settle like that within 24 hours of filing. The system doesn't work that way.

Why would she negotiate the right to file, though? You mentioned insurance reasons earlier… how would that play into it? I’ve just never heard of this scenario.

Well, she always has the right to file - her counsel probably sent Diddy's counsel a draft complaint weeks if not months ago saying, "this is what we're going to file if you don't settle."

He paid her enough to resolve the matter but not enough to keep her quiet. What I am saying is the filing likely didn't bring about the settlement, for the reasons outlined above (i.e. "they were negotiating for months and were close and she forced him into settlement by filing" doesn't make sense). So the filing and statements regarding the settlement were likely negotiated, at least in the broad strokes.

My comment re: insurance was in response to the comment someone made about how you settle a claim before a lawsuit is actually filed. I was just saying that this happens all the time everywhere, especially where there is insurance coverage.

her counsel probably sent Diddy's counsel a draft complaint weeks if not months ago saying, "this is what we're going to file if you don't settle."

See, this is the scenario I'm familiar with. And obviously she would proceed with filing if that doesn't force a settlement. But (as you said) she loses her leverage at that point, so it's a little mystifying to me why the settlement would happen a day later. I thought you were suggesting that they negotiated this specific course of events ("X files the suit, then both parties announce settlement the next day").

It's so mystifying that I do think that is what happened (i.e. that the roll-out of the filing>settlement was stage managed to some degree).

Just to be clear, none of this is denigrate her - sorry she had to go through all this and hope she gets to tell her story.

There was a deadline for historic cases to be filed due to a law that was about to elapse iirc. I wonder if that had anything to do with the timing. It sends an odd focal point for this thread, tbh

I think the circumstances in which these revelations came to light, while still obtaining a settlement for the victim – as opposed to her agreeing to keep silent, as must happen in other cases we never hear about – are relevant to this thread... but fair enough, I was just curious about how PBKR's wife was explaining it. (fwiw, I think homophobic conspiracy tweets are also an odd focal point for this thread; but this dovetails from that discussion, in that it gets to how Diddy's "reputation" is affected by Cassie telling her story, which he apparently couldn't prevent even via settlement.)

Yeah, sorry gyac, just posting inside baseball legal stuff that was interesting to me. Don't mean to distract from the real issues.

i have so many conflicting, confused thoughts about all this. it all keeps coming back to: god he's a complete turd and she should be allowed to kick him square in the nuts with a steel toed boot. i'd pay-per-view that schitt so fast. the more public shaming for him the better.

I dont get why it would be 'odd' to observe how people are engaging w this story & what that says about the discourse around similar stories.

ie, the homophobic conspiracies are why people may have been dismissive of other more reasonable concerns until they were very obvious; and the way certain people seem to be only able to reconcile evil shit with a celebrity they feel they 'know' when they can also be seen as somehow less masculine. Or how other men are obviously ok with abuse against women but draw the line at being gay. those seem like pretty relevant subjects to the conversation idk

and for what its worth, I only really dug further into those stories when people questioned that they were even true

Sure, that's fine, it was more the posting of the tweets themselves I was referring to (but I'm not here to play thread police, and I know some ppl are into doing that). Anyway, these discussions can obv encompass a range of angles (including the legal mechanics), otherwise the thread would just be 50 ppl posting "Ugh, how horrible" after each new revelation.

the stuff with bieber isn't about being gay, it's about being a pedophile.

seems that is unsubstantiated though. just rumors.

cassie's lawsuit clearly has grounds. he would not have settled otherwise. and third parties corroborated some of the allegations.

Yeah I mean that particular Usher/Bieber tweet just seemed... unhinged and horrible, I guess (assuming it's not based on any actual allegations, just rumors or speculation).

i think it is better to see those types of rumors as separate from the lawsuit.

I dont get why it would be 'odd' to observe how people are engaging w this story & what that says about the discourse around similar stories.

Or how other men are obviously ok with abuse against women but draw the line at being gay. those seem like pretty relevant subjects to the conversation idk

I think theres a misunderstanding here because I agreed with your original post. I didnt intend for the gay rumors to become a 'focal point' of the thread when I brought them up, I thought they were pretty relevant to the conversation at that time as they reflect a common response elsewhere.

Only skimmed it but might be a good read:

https://slate.com/culture/2023/11/sean-combs-lawsuit-not-surprised-tupac.html

I wonder if this happened because Combs knew that the Cassie news was about to break

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66716206.amp

xp Tupac is not surprised at much these days

Axl Rose accused of 1989 sexual assault in new lawsuit

Rose himself has been accused of domestic and sexual abuse multiple times in the past. The suit itself describes a “history of abuse” when describing Rose, referencing several other allegations of sexual and domestic violence from past decades. The suit referenced abuse claims from Rose’s former partners Erin Everly and Stephanie Seymour, detailed in a 1994 People magazine story. (Everly sued Rose for abuse in Los Angeles civil court that year, later settling the claims out of court.)

The lawsuit isn’t the first time Sheila Kennedy shared these details about her alleged experience with Rose, writing about the allegations in her 2016 autobiography, No One’s Pet, and further recalling the claims in Look Away, the 2021 documentary on sexual misconduct in the music industry.

My parents had a live-in nanny for a period during the late 80’s who looked after my siblings and I. Her younger sister in Minneapolis was invited backstage at a GnR show around that year and were sexually propositioned by multiple members. Her sister and her friends were all about 15 at the time.

I’m amazed that there haven’t been other suits against them

Talk about getting a free pass, so much of their repulsive behavior was widely reported and pretty out in the open. I'm surprised they never had a career-killing reckoning even though they went through some much-needed rehab, therapy and maturation.

Unfortunately it was probably seen as "authenticity" at the time

Jamie Foxx has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman during a 2015 encounter.

The woman, who is referred to as Jane Doe throughout the court documents, said that Foxx assaulted her at the Catch restaurant rooftop in New York City in August 2015. The suit lists the restaurant; its employees; and the co-founder of Catch Hospitality Group, Mark Birnbaum, as defendants. The plaintiff is seeking a trial by jury.

https://pitchfork.com/news/interscope-co-founder-jimmy-iovine-facing-lawsuit-over-alleged-sexual-abuse/

worth noting why so many cases are being filed now - the Adult Survivors Act, that allows victims to bring cases in New York past the statute of limitations, is expiring this week: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/20/new-york-adult-survivors-act-law-expires-trump-diddy-bill-cosby

I was wondering about that Roz, thanks for the info.

Thanks, Roz! I was curious.

Lotta dirtbags must be super nervous today, just hoping to make it to Monday.

https://www.stereogum.com/2243561/anti-flag-frontman-justin-sane-sued-for-sexual-assault/news/

Diddy accused of rape, drugging and revenge porn in yet another lawsuit.

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/sean-diddy-combs-gang-rape-lawsuit-1235824467/amp/

50 Cent has a documentary in the works:

🚨 G-Unit Film & Television proceeds from this Documentary will go to victims of Sexual Assault and Rape ! pic.twitter.com/nNqdFKHACp

— 50cent (@50cent) December 7, 2023

uh yeah I don't trust 50 to handle any of this stuff in the right way, number one he's at troll and this is just his way of getting back at diddy and (especially rick ross), he's also a really virulent homophobe to this day (touching on some stuff deej was saying upthread)...i mean if incriminating stuff comes out on diddy and is exposed that's a good thing, but this will be trashy DJ vlad type stuff for sure.

"Go-Go’s Guitarist Jane Wiedlin Claims Influential Rock DJ Sexually Abused Her as a Teen. Six women now accuse famed former KROQ DJ and club owner Rodney Bingenheimer of molesting them when they were underage"

.. but you gotta subscribe!

I doubt anyone will be too surprised with the revelations tbh.

the Rodney stuff will be endless

Birds of a feather...

https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/rodney-jimmy-page-english-disco.jpg?w=1024

Tommy Lee! In a helicopter! Will this open the floodgates for every other bunch of 80s glam metal dunces to be accused of moral impropriety?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/18/motley-crue-drummer-tommy-lee-accused-of-sexual-assault

they better start building more courthouses

that reminds me that the concept of "girls! girls! girls!" -- the lumping of female people into an indistinct mass that didn't end in the 80s -- is at the top of my enemy list. i am still upset about Jane Wiedlin. It fucking sucks to know that all the people i was supposed to look up to were molested and abused.

One indirect positive result of the Rodney Bingenheimer news: It reminded me how much I enjoyed Jane Wiedlin's contribution to the L.A. punk oral history book, which in turn led me to purchase Kid Congo Powers's memoir (on audiobook), which I am loving.

Jane Wiedlin is amazing. She is super-talented, bold, funny, inconceivably cute and long before her time. To think that someone would look at her, an amazing and unique person, as nothing more than something to hump makes me see red.