Summer 2023 full of lawsuits for world stars: after an investigation centered on Cardi B for responding by throwing a microphone at a fan who threw a glass at him during one of her concerts, it’s time for Dua Lipa and Lizzo becomes the protagonist of legal proceedings, which, respectively, are related to copyright and harassment at work.
In particular, Dua Lipa is once again facing a copyright infringement lawsuit regarding the 2020 hit “Levitating”, this time from a Californian producer who claims the British pop star used his work in remixes of the song without permission.
Attorneys for Bosco Kante, the petitioner’s name, filed a complaint with the United States District Court for the Central District of California on Monday, July 31. The complaint states that Steven Kozmeniuk, one of the producers of “Levitating”, allegedly contacted Kante in 2019, asking him to create a voice box to use in the song.
For the uninitiated, Talkbox is a device that allows musicians to change the sound of a musical instrument with their own voice: in practice, it is the instrument made famous by Peter Frampton in the seventies, with which our Pino Daniele discovered Na tazzulella. and a cafe.
According to the complaint, Kante and the song’s producers came to a verbal agreement that his performance would appear on the original album version of the song, but not on future remixes. According to the complaint, despite this alleged verbal agreement, Kante’s performance appeared on three remixes of “Levitating”, including a remix with rapper DaBaby. The DaBaby version was the most successful, with the song’s video reaching 767 million views on YouTube and 1.8 billion streams on Spotify. Hence the litigation.
More quarrels over Lizzo: Three of her former dancers accused her of creating a hostile work environment accompanied by sexual hatred.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, sues Lizzo, whose real name is Melissa Vivian Jefferson, her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc and her dance team director Shirlene Quigley.
Complaints filed by plaintiffs Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noel Rodriguez include harassment based on gender, religion, race and disability.
In the lawsuit, the dancers say they were forced to touch artists naked in a strip club in Amsterdam in late February.
Davis was allegedly forced to take part in a nude photo shoot despite her discomfort. The woman said she was afraid of losing her job if she didn’t comply with Lizzo’s requests.