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DETAILS EMERGE IN HOT 97 EVICTION LAWSUIT: Lawyers for building owners say other tenants felt “threatened and intimidated” by station’s guests.
*In legal papers demanding the eviction of WQHT-FM, a.k.a. Hot 97, the New York radio station and its guests are described by the landlord as a source of intimidation for other building tenants, and simply too trouble-prone to keep on the premises.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the wake of last week’s shooting incident of rapper Jamal “Gravy” Wollard. The 30-year-old was slightly wounded in the incident that took place before his scheduled interview at the station.
According to AP, the lawsuit names three shootings, two bomb threats and more than a dozen other incidents involving celebrity guests visiting the station's offices since March 2000. The lawsuit cited "numerous extremely serious incidents, including multiple shootings and altercations with building security" that "threatened the lives of tenants and the public."
The suit also mentions an August 2005 complaint from another building tenant, Thomson Financial, which said that "many of its employees have felt threatened and intimidated as a result of past incidents involving guests and persons associated with the radio station."
Last year, the crews of rival rappers 50 Cent and The Game exchanged gunfire in the station's lobby, with a 28-year-old man injured in the incident. In 2001, another gunfight started between entourages linked to rappers Lil' Kim and Capone-N-Noreaga, leaving one man wounded. Lil' Kim (real name: Kimberly Jones) is currently serving one year and a day for lying about the shootout to a federal grand jury.
The station now has 20 days to respond to the allegations in court. Meanwhile, Hot 97’s parent company, Emmis Radio, issued a statement declaring that the New York City District Council of Carpenters - the building's owner - had no legal basis for eviction.
"If the carpenters union wants to spend money dragging this issue through the courts, then we have no choice but to fight them on it and we will win," the statement said. "The union has tried to bully us into submission and accomplish through harassment what they can't accomplish through the legal system."
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