A federal judge has moved to dismiss the long-running lawsuit surrounding Lizzo‘s ‘Truth Hurts’, after attorneys from both sides stated the parties reached a settlement on Friday (March 17).
Each side will be required to pay their own legal fees, according to Rolling Stone, although no details have been shared. The attorneys asked for “dismissal of the entire action without prejudice.”
Released in September 2017, the song became a subject of controversy two years later when the ‘Juice’ star was accused of lifting the “melody, lyrics and chords” from a demo titled ‘Healthy’, including one of its most famous lines: “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch”.
Lizzo denied the allegations and sued the three songwriters in question — brothers Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, and Justin “Yves” Rothman — in October 2019, seeking “a judicial declaration” that the Raisens and Rothman “did not co-author ‘Truth Hurts,’ and have no right to co-own that work or to share in its profits.” In 2020, Lizzo was herself countersued by the musicians.
Lizzo performs live in 2021. CREDIT: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for American Express
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee later agreed with Lizzo’s claim that “a joint author of one copyrightable work does not automatically gain ownership of a derivative work in which the joint author had no hand in creating.”
Judge Gee added that the plaintiffs themselves alleged that ‘Healthy’ was completed as a “standalone” song and not a demo for ‘Truth Hurts’.
Earlier this week (March 14), Lizzo hit out at Texas’ anti-transgender legislation and abortion policies in a keynote speech as part of this year’s SXSW festival at Austin Convention Centre.
“I’m proud to rep Houston but I’m not proud to rep Texan politics right now. There are very regressive laws being passed,” Lizzo told the audience.
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