Metro Boomin Sued for Alleged Sexual Assault, Resulting Pregnancy
Metro Boomin has been sued for sexual assault. A 38-year-old woman named Vanessa LeMaistre has filed a lawsuit in California against the producer, whose real name is Leland Wayne, claiming he raped her at his studio in 2016. A few weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant.
The suit was filed in the Superior Court of California on Oct. 29 by LeMaistre’s lawyers. It lays out the events that allegedly transpired after LeMaistre met Wayne in Las Vegas in the spring of 2016, which occurred after her nine-month-old son, Kamden, died as a result of a rare and fatal disease.
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“When Wayne invited Ms. LeMaistre to visit him at recording studios in California, where she lived, she was happy for the opportunity to watch him work because she was passionate about music, but more importantly because music provided an escape from the pain she was in after losing her son,” the suit reads. “Devastatingly, however, meeting Wayne resulted in Ms. LeMaistre suffering from the second worst thing that ever happened to her – being raped by someone who pretended to be her friend for months.”
Wayne’s lawyer Lawrence Hinkle II, of Sanders Roberts LLP, responded to the allegations via TMZ. “This is a pure shakedown,” he said. “These are false accusations. Mr. Wayne refused to pay her months ago, and he refuses to pay her now. Mr. Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails.”
According to the lawsuit, LeMaistre visited the producer’s Los Angeles studio several times after their friendship began, and the alleged assault took place during one of those visits in September of that year. On that occasion, according to the complaint, she was “immediately given a shot of alcohol. She also ingested half of a Xanax bar, which she used to cope with her anxiety after her son’s loss.” At the time, Wayne was upset about a “recent break up or trial separation from his long-term girlfriend.” LeMaistre woke up later “completely unable to move or make a sound” as Wayne allegedly raped her. The suit alleges that LeMaistre never gave her consent.
A few weeks following the alleged assault, LeMaistre found out that she was pregnant. The suit notes that “she had not had sex with anyone else, so Ms. LeMaistre knew that the pregnancy was the result of Wayne raping her.” She elected to terminate the pregnancy due to her “declining mental health.”
The lawsuit points to lyrics from a 2017 song released by 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin called “Rap Saved Me.” The lyrics include the lines: “She took a Xanny, then she fainted/ I’m from the gutter, ain’t no changing/ From the gutter, rap saved me/ She drive me crazy, have my baby.”
“Metro Boomin has built a successful career with lyrics and social media that are not only offensive but also explicitly outline his intentions to harm women,” LeMaistre’s lawyers Michael J. Willemin and Monica Hincken (Wigdor LLP), and Omar H. Bengali and Robert J. Girard II (Girard Bengali, APC), said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “These are more than mere words, and it’s time for him to be held accountable for his manipulative tactics and unacceptable behavior.”
It also points to tweets written by Wayne that resurfaced during the public feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar and brought “his flippant attitude toward sexual assault and drugging women to the forefront.” It lists numerous tweets, many of which have since been deleted.
This article was updated on Oct. 30 at 12:03 p.m. to add a statement from LeMaistre’s lawyers.
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