Apparently, the family of George Floyd is mulling over the idea of bringing a civil suit against Kanye West over comments made during an October 15th podcast appearance where the Grammy award-winning artist appeared to suggest that George Floyd may have died as a result of the fentanyl in his system.
While news outlets and tabloidesque publications are abuzz with headlines spreading the news that Kanye could face some legal headaches, the real question is whether there’s actually any civil case that can be pursued over Kanye’s comments. The short answer is no, but let’s dive into the background of the matter and then detail why Floyd’s family has essentially no civil case here.
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The Source Of The Controversy
On October 15th, Kanye appeared on the podcast Drink Champs, where the eclectic artist was at one point discussing Candace Owens’ documentary on Black Lives Matter that he’d recently watched. During the interview that has since gone viral, Kanye made a brief comment about Floyd’s death, telling the podcast hosts, “They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
Now there were a host of other things Kanye said during the interview that has served as a magnet for controversy, but as it relates to the debacle around Floyd’s family considering a lawsuit, these two sentences uttered by Kanye during the podcast appear to be what the mainstream media (and likely Floyd’s family) are latching onto as a reason to sue.
News Spreads That George Floyd’s Family Considers Legal Action
Come October 16th, after clips of Kanye’s appearance on the podcast went viral, a handful of accounts on Twitter began spreading word about how Kanye could be facing a lawsuit over his comments made during the podcast appearance.
One Twitter user wrote, “George Floyd’s family is considering filing a lawsuit against MAGA lunatic anti-semite conspiracist Kanye West after he spread lies about Floyd’s murder to show support for the killer cop. I hope they go through with it and sue the everlasting shit out of him.”
That same day, Philip Lewis from HuffPost added a bit more context on the matter via identifying the lawyer at the center of this potential action, writing on Twitter, “Lee Merritt, the attorney who represented George Floyd’s family, says the family is considering a lawsuit over Kanye’s comments.”
Heading over to Lee Merritt’s Twitter page, the source for all the hubbub and news articles was posted on the afternoon of October 16th, with the civil rights attorney having written, “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. Claiming Floyd died from fentanyl, not the brutality established criminally and civilly, undermines & diminishes the Floyd family’s fight.”
For the sake of context, Merritt got in cahoots with Floyd’s family days after his death in 2020, working alongside the infamous Benjamin Crump during the civil case that led to a hefty settlement for the family. Prior to being attached to the Floyd matter, Merritt had made quite the stir in 2018 over in Texas when he represented a woman who made false rape allegations against a DPS trooper, leading to Merritt issuing a formal apology for bolstering the woman’s false accusations.
Merritt’s work in that Texas case nearly landed himself in jail, as the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee levied 16 contempt charges against him in 2018 for allegedly practicing law in Texas without state licensure (Merritt is only allowed to practice federal law in Texas, not handle state cases). However, Merritt was able to skate past the charges, claiming he was only working as an advocate for certain people and wasn’t doing any state cases.
Background aside, Merritt’s legal practice areas (a.k.a., what he specializes in) are on civil rights cases and forms of personal injury – but things like defamation through libel and slander aren’t amid his wheelhouse of expertise. Despite defamation cases not being among Merritt’s proficiencies, he still managed to mention in his Twitter post the rather large legal speedbump associated with courts finding the dead can’t be defamed postmortem,
But Floyd already being dead after the allegedly defamatory statements were made is one of quite a few problems.
Why The Floyd Family Has No Case Against Kanye West
To go back to Kanye’s comments from the podcast that are the center of this matter, he stated, “They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that,” which suggests that the course of legal action the Floyd family would pursue is defamation.
But the glaring issue (which was ironically pointed out by the Floyd family attorney, Merritt) is that the deceased cannot be defamed. The hard facts are that Floyd is already dead, and Kanye’s comments only pertained to the manner in which he thinks Floyd died, which makes the potential civil case nearly dead on arrival if Floyd’s family had the audacity to file one.
Aaron Minc of Minc Law wrote the following about the topic of defaming the deceased:
“Under common law and according to the definition of this defamation, deceased individuals cannot be defamed. Defamation is defined as an act or statement that damages one’s reputation. The dead do not have reputations to damage. The memory of a deceased person can be damaged, but this is not addressed under the tort of defamation. Survivors or descendants of the dead have no legal claim on behalf of a deceased relative’s good name, nor can they collect on behalf of their own interests relative to that person’s reputation.”
Additionally, the Student Press Law Center also addressed the topic, shedding light on the pivotal element in defamation cases that “in America, only a living person can initiate a defamation claim for damages to their reputation.”
Nowhere in Kanye’s statements on the podcast did he defame any surviving relatives of Floyd, which fails one of the very first pillars of a defamation suit, which is that a filed claim must show proof that the statements and/or publication pertain specifically to the person filing the suit. Furthermore, Floyd’s cause of death itself has been a matter of rigorous public debate before and after the trial regarding his death, falling into the realm of matters of public interest that afford generous leeway to expressed opinions.
Yet another pillar that the Floyd family wouldn’t be able to realistically meet in a defamation case is articulating the damages of the alleged defaming, as no existing assets or potential monetary gains of the Floyd family are going to suffer harm as a result of Kanye’s comments – especially considering that claims of a near-same sentiment are posted online likely hundreds of times every day given the exposure and divided opinions of the original case.
The fact of the matter is that despite how badly some may want to see Kanye sued over these comments, the Floyd family just doesn’t have a defamation case.
For more insight into the complexity of defamation cases, check out this November 2021 article exploring whether or not Kyle Rittenhouse has a strong case against news outlets and Big Tech social media platforms.
This piece was written by Gregory Hoyt on October 17, 2022. It originally appeared on RedVoiceMedia.com and is used with permission.
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George Floyd was nothing more than a 2 bit thug and a boil on the butt of humanity. He was elevated to Sainthood by the fools from
BLM who used him, his family, and the entire misguided fools who bought into the BLM propaganda, and elevated this thug to a celebrity status that small convinced small minded people that BLM was their Savior. Not only was BLM NOT the Savior of Blacks it was a vehicle that allowed those who controlled BLM to STEAL donations made by well meaning people and use it for their OWN enrichment….and THAT’S THE TRUTH.
It doesn
t say anything to me about black or white? George Floyd was put in the back of the police car without handcuffs. He was a counterfeiter a drug dealer and a user but that's alright with the family? If you want to go after anybody you first need to go after all the media which pedals their false narrative against people for sensationalism. Its called freedom of speech. If the family wants lunch they should first work for it. I remember Rodney King in the Watts Riots. Cant we - cant we all just get along? He died in the swimming pool with drugs in his system.FLOYD WAS A GANGBANGING BASTARD DRUG ADDICT.
he’s dead and your not going to get any mo money
I agree and this media Lifezette would not print my comment as they are like Face Book and cannot stand the truth that is being said and done about the blacks. This probably won’t get published either.
The hell with the Floyd family seeking the ghetto lottery again for a worthless no good criminal drug addict, and the Country is better off wit the thug gone for good.
The Floyd family need more $$$$$$$$$? Kanye’s as entitled to an opinion as they are.
He’s still just as dead no standing
The don’t need a case they only need a leftist judge and jury pool to win.