The mother of George Floyd’s daughter plans to sue Ye West for $250 million following the rap and fashion mogul’s alleged claim that Floyd’s death in 2020 was caused by a fentanyl overdose, her lawyers announced Tuesday. West made the claim after watching The Daily Wire’s new documentary on Black Lives Matter.
Roxie Washington said she is suing on behalf of herself and Gianna Floyd, the daughter she had with Floyd. West, who recently changed his first name from Kanye, implied in an interview that first aired Sunday that the 46-year-old Floyd died from an overdose and not at the hands of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was later convicted of murder.
“I watched the George Floyd documentary that Candace Owens put out,” West said in the interview. “One of the things that his two roommates said was they want a tall guy like me, and the day that he died, he said a prayer for eight minutes.
“They hit him with the fentanyl,” West continued. “If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” Ye insisted of Chauvin.
West was referring to “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold,” a documentary by Owens that explored Floyd’s death, Chauvin’s conviction and the rise of Black Lives Matter, the protest group that raised tens of millions of dollars in the wake of Floyd’s death.
The lawsuit will accuse West of making the comments “to promote his brands, and increase marketing value and revenue for himself, his business partners and associates,” the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law said in a statement.
“While one cannot defame the dead, the family of George Floyd is considering suit for Kanye’s false statements about the manner of his death,” attorney Lee Merritt said Sunday. “Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl and not the brutality established criminally and civilly undermines and diminishes the Floyd family’s fight.”
The law firm sent West a cease-and-desist letter Tuesday saying he has “maliciously made statements that are inaccurate and unfounded, causing damage to Mr. Floyd’s estate and family.”
“George Floyd’s daughter is being re-traumatized by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her,” Witherspoon said in the statement.