*Talib Kweli is taking legal action against Jezebel’s parent company G/O Media along with a writer for causing him emotional distress over an article about his permanent suspension from Twitter.
We reported previously that Kweli was permanently banned from Twitter in 2020 following “repeated violations,” a spokesperson for the social media site said at the time. The Brooklyn rapper was suspended after allegedly launching a harassment campaign against activist Maya A. Moody.
His beef with her began after a Twitter user posted a list of rappers who are married to Black women. Kweli was on the list. Moody responded by noting: “Literally almost all of them are married to lightskinned women but that’s a conversation for another day.”
And with that… Talib popped off.
READ MORE: Talib Kweli: Twitter Bans Rapper After Harassing Woman Over ‘Light Skin‘ Dispute
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“Nah let’s have this convo today,” he tweeted. “Are we talking all of my relationships? My children’s mother as well? Or are you only talking about who you think I’m currently in a relationship right now? I mean, is any of this really any of your business?”
He would continue to harass Moody over the next several weeks, insisting he would stop when she apologized or deleted her Twitter. He also targeted her on Instagram and made her the topic of an hour-long IG Live.
As reported by Complex, when a Twitter user noted that Kweli had been harassing Moody on Twitter for 13 hours, he replied, “I can go for 13 years if you come for my family. I’m just getting started.”
“…Talib Kweli has been on a week-long harassment spree directed at me via Twitter and Instagram, which has led to his followers threatening to murder my family and I for [my] tweet,” said Moody in a statement at the time. “I have also been threatened with human trafficking, and [his followers] have been posting pictures of my parents online, who are ALL federal employees, along with their full names, where we live, and my stepmother’s old job and salary. […] a paid employee of Kweli… provides [him] with the usernames of those he wants targeted and harassed … I am not the first or only victim of this behavior from Talib Kweli. He has harassed whoever has come to my aid, and his bots have attempted to leak IP addresses, stalk and harass other people’s families.”
Talib accused Moody of lying.
“Maya Moody is a liar. I’ve never cyber harassed anyone in my life,” he wrote in an email to Jezebel after the site reported on his wild social media antics. “I responded, on Twitter, to the lies that Maya posted about me. When you respond to someone who posts lies about you, that is not harassment.”
Per Complex, Kweli claims in his suit that the Jezebel article used him as “guinea pig to clarify how black men treat black women,” and sent him “into a depression state of loss of appetite, sleeplessness, edgy, anxiety, and discomfort around certain women.” He alleges he was portrayed as “some monster that didn’t like black women.”
“Jezebel’s article fairly reported on the controversy which led to the permanent suspension of Talib Kweli’s Twitter account,” a spokesperson for G/O Media said in a statement, according to the report. “This suit, filed two years after the story was published, has no merit and the company will be seeking our attorneys fees pursuant to the protections afforded to the press to publish stories about matters of public interest like this one.”
Kweli is seeking $300,000 in damages.
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