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Pras sues New York Post over cancelled benefit gig claims

By | Published on Thursday 9 October 2014

Pras

One time Fugee Pras ain’t happy with the New York Post, and he’s firing up his litigation machine to prove it.

The New York tab is facing a $30 million libel suit from Pras Michel, after it accused him of bailing on a “9/11 benefit concert” organised by his own charity. The article also apparently claimed that the foundation in question had bounced a cheque to the venue, had falsely claimed its event was sponsored by MTV, and isn’t properly registered as a charity with state officials.

But woah there tab hacks, let’s just pick this one apart shall we? I just checked the website for the Hope For Them Foundation and Pras is nowhere listed as a founder, director or board member, or anything at all actually. So you can see where the Fugee man is coming from in getting angry about this story.

He’s also seemingly getting stick for specifically bailing on a “9/11 benefit concert”, even though that line in the Post’s article means the show in question took place on 11 Sep (which it did), rather than it was in aid of a charity supporting New York’s 9/11 victims (which it wasn’t). But deliberately confusing perhaps. Bad newspaper.

But woah there Pras-repping legal men. The Post claims “Michel was listed as a board member on the group’s website early last week [but] by Friday, his name had disappeared”. They also allege that Pras’s involvement affected how the Foundation spoke about its work in Haiti “for fear potential donors would confuse it with the disgraced charity run by his cousin, [fellow former Fugee] Wyclef Jean”.

But woah there claim-making journos. Lawyers for Michel say that a Hope For Them Foundation spokesman clearly told you “Pras is a good friend of the organisation and supports our cause but is NOT a board member”. And anyway, he never guaranteed a performance at the fund-raiser, because he was just back from a trip to North Korea. And stop implying the show had anything to do with 9/11.

But woah there defamation attorney dudes, even if everything you are saying is right, and the Post’s article was, as you put it, written “with a reckless disregard for the truth”, how can you possibly be claiming $30 million in damages? Oh, Pras is negotiating some major business deals, which may or may not include involvement in a multi-billion bid to buy some hotels, and this story has screwed up deal talks. Still, $30 million is still ambitious for a libel action.

The Post is yet to respond.



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