Takeoff, a rapper who is part of the Atlanta trio Migos, has been accused of rape in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles by a woman who said she was assaulted at a house party in Encino, Calif., in late June.
The lawsuit says the woman, identified in the court papers only as Jane Doe, was assaulted in an upstairs bedroom after expressly stating that she did not want to have sex with the rapper, 26, who was born Kirshnik Khari Ball.
The woman went to a hospital the same day, where, the suit says, the staff observed “physical evidence of forceful rape” and alerted the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a statement, Drew Findling, a lawyer for Takeoff, called the claims “patently and provably false” and said that the rapper, known for his “quiet, reserved and peaceful personality,” was the “target of an obvious exploitative money grab.” Findling added, “The claims and statements made regarding this lawsuit indicate that the plaintiffs’ representatives have not spoken with relevant witnesses or reviewed available evidence.”
“As his counsel, we are well aware and well versed on the importance of civil and criminal prosecution of true sexual assaults,” the lawyer said. “This is not one of those situations.”
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department said that an investigation had been opened.
But Neama Rahmani, a lawyer for the woman, said the police had not spoken to his client since responding to the hospital in June, despite several efforts to make her available to speak with investigators.
According to the suit, the woman had gone to the home at the invitation of Daryl McPherson, a D.J., producer and engineer for Migos who travels with the group and is known as DJ Durel. Mr. Rahmani said his client believed she was meeting Durel for a date.
But when she arrived at the house, around 7 p.m. on June 22, she discovered multiple people there in a party setting, the suit says. Takeoff arrived later, the suit says, and took an interest in her over the course of the evening in a way that the woman said made her feel uncomfortable.
She said she alerted Durel of her discomfort and he offered to take her upstairs to his “room,” according to the lawsuit. On the staircase, the suit says, they ran into Takeoff, and the two men appeared to have an argument. The woman continued to Durel’s room and lay down on the bed. It was around 2 a.m., according to the suit.
The suit says that shortly after, Takeoff entered the room and began touching her. She protested that she did not want to have sex, but according to the court papers, he removed her clothes and forcibly penetrated her.
The woman later drove home, and a friend took her to the hospital in the morning, Mr. Rahmani said. She has not been in touch with the men since that night, according to the lawyer. Mr. Rahmani said his client had met Durel at another party in the weeks prior, and had been conversing with him over social media before being invited to the Encino house.
“This was her one and only encounter with Takeoff, and she hasn’t spoken to Durel since,” he said.
Migos broke through in 2013 with the song “Versace” and has been in the upper echelon of rap and pop music since its No. 1 single “Bad and Boujee,” in 2017; two No. 1 albums followed for the group, which also features the members Quavo and Offset. Takeoff released a solo album, “The Last Rocket,” in 2018.
Mr. Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, acknowledged that a civil suit like the one he has filed typically follows a criminal case. He said that his client, though, had lost confidence in a criminal investigation because of the delay.
A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles police declined to respond to questions about Mr. Rahmani’s description of police delays in further interviewing his client.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
