A federal decide sided with Atlanta rapper T.I. and his spouse Tameka “Tiny” Harris on Friday, ruling that the Atlanta rapper’s notorious “virginity exams” on his teen daughter and hashish use couldn’t be used as proof at a civil trial now underway in Santa Ana, Calif.
The choice was a key victory for the high-profile couple as they pursue claims that toy big MGA Leisure stole the title, likeness and commerce gown of their all-female vocal group OMG Girlz when it launched its line of “L.O.L Shock OMG” dolls in the summertime of 2019.
In its failed movement filed Thursday night time, MGA sought the court docket’s permission to point out jurors clips from the couple’s VH1 actuality present T.I. & Tiny: Associates & Household Hustle exhibiting “the household strife” that ensued when T.I., whose authorized title is Clifford Harris, revealed on a podcast that he accompanied his teen daughter Deyjah to the gynecologist to get affirmation her hymen was nonetheless intact.
The gorgeous feedback induced widespread outrage on the time they had been made.
“I say, ‘Look, Doc, she don’t journey no horses, she don’t journey no bike, she don’t play no sports activities. Simply examine the hymen, please, and provides me again my outcomes expeditiously,’” T.I. informed the hosts of Women Like Us. He claimed he was okay together with his 15-year-old son being sexually energetic, however his daughter was a special story.
T.I. later mentioned on an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Purple Desk Speak that he had been “joking” partially throughout the podcast, that the testing wasn’t carried out after his daughter turned 18, and that his feedback had been “misconstrued” and “sensationalized.” He additionally apologized to his daughter.
Earlier than the decide’s ruling Friday, an MGA lawyer argued the toy maker had a proper to point out the 2020 clips concerning the “virginity exams” in addition to 2016 social media posts about T.I.’s hashish use as a result of the couple was allowed to point out jurors their very own movies depicting their household in a optimistic gentle.
“Opposing counsel has been capable of play video after video after video, not solely of the OMG Girlz, but in addition the complete household wanting good, wanting just like the all-American household, and there are such a lot of movies on the market on social media, so many causes that MGA wouldn’t wish to make a doll line off these of us, that it’s simply making a misimpression for the jury,” MGA lawyer Chase Scolnick argued.
The decide shut him down. He mentioned the 2020 clip concerning the “virginity check” was off-limits as a result of it got here after the dolls had been launched. He then excluded the movies about hashish, calling them “not related to any challenge on this case.”
U.S. District Courtroom Choose James V. Selna beforehand excluded proof about T.I.’s prison historical past, saying he wished to keep away from any “sliming” of the events concerned within the civil case.
The decide mentioned Friday that until MGA places a staffer on the stand to say they knew about T.I.’s hashish use and thought of it offensive earlier than the L.O.L. Shock OMG dolls had been launched, he wouldn’t permit the corporate to usher in the rapper’s 2016 Instagram video exhibiting him strolling with associates in South Africa smoking marijuana.
“To the extent it’s supplied as a proof of their concept that they by no means would have carried out enterprise had they identified, for instance, that Mr. Harris did marijuana in 2016, nobody has come ahead and mentioned, ‘We knew about that conduct, and we wouldn’t have carried out enterprise.’ For me, that’s the predicate for that sort of proof. So, all of the gadgets within the supply of proof are rejected and excluded,” Choose Selna dominated.
T.I. and Tiny haven’t put a precise determine on the financial damages they’re in search of within the case, however certainly one of their attorneys mentioned throughout opening statements that MGA has made “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” from the L.O.L. Shock OMG dolls that allegedly infringe on the “title, picture & commerce gown” of OMG Girlz, the all-girl group Tiny fashioned in 2009 with T.I.’s assist.
Tiny testified Thursday and Friday that she believes the dolls “ripped off” the “signature” look of the group, which included varied members earlier than it advanced right into a trio comprising Tiny’s daughter Zonnique Pullins, identified within the group as “Star,” Bahja Rodriguez, identified within the group as “Magnificence,” and Breaunna Womanck, identified within the group as “Babydoll.”
She mentioned the group toured broadly, appeared on TV and have become immediately recognizable for his or her brightly coloured hair, layered clothes and exaggerated equipment.
She mentioned one doll particularly, named Chillax, was a blatant copy of the look the women sported on their “All Round The World” tour.
“This doll is just too acquainted. The outfit for me is an enormous, large deal,” she testified. “I wouldn’t be right here if it wasn’t the OMG model, all of the completely different coincidences, the outfit we created. This specific outfit was designed, created, handmade, if you’ll, for the women’ tour.”
Tiny, a member of the multi-platinum ‘90s R&B group Xscape and a Grammy-winning songwriter acknowledged for her contributions to the TLC hit “No Scrubs,” testified that she and the OMG Girlz labored arduous to create their model and deserved compensation.
“I’m merely stating that this model was ripped off,” she testified.
“This case is about greed. That’s what it’s about. It’s a shakedown,” MGA lawyer Jennifer Keller mentioned in her opening assertion Wednesday, calling T.I. and Tiny’s claims of infringement a “shakedown.”
Keller mentioned brightly coloured hair and clothes have been worn by numerous celebrities, and that MGA launched a line of Bratz dolls in 2005 that featured lots of the identical appears to be like claimed by the OMG Girlz.
T.I. is predicted to take the witness stand when the case resumes subsequent week.