You tried to break her heart? Oh, that breaks my heart. The lawsuit against Grammy-winning musician Lizzo for her hit song “Truth Hurts” has been dismissed by a California federal judge.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee accepted Lizzo’s dismissal of the suit by Justin and Jeremiah Raisen, two songwriters who claimed that the hit song (originally released in 2017) is “derivative” of a track they wrote with the performer called “Healthy.”
Lizzo sued the brothers in October 2019, stating that they aren’t entitled to any of the track’s profits or a songwriting credit because they were not involved in its creation. However, Mina Lioness—the young woman who originally tweeted the sentence “I did a DNA test turns out I’m a hundred percent that bitch”—did receive a songwriting credit after coming forward in 2019.
Judge Gee leaves the Raisen brothers the opportunity to amend the dismissal, after finding that a section of their opposition alleges that portions of their “Healthy” song were used as inspiration for “Truth Hurts.” However, the judge is not feeling “good as hell” about an amendment, pointing out that there are “inconsistent allegations” with their claims that “may be used to undermine a litigant’s credibility.”
Although it was two years old by that point, “Truth Hurts” blew up after appearing in the 2019 Netflix romantic comedy film Someone Great. Because of its popularity, it became only the sixth song by a female rapper to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in August 2019. It went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance earlier this year.
Join the discussion! The Root is hosting its first-ever, virtual Root Institute, presented by Target, featuring several of the leading minds in our community talking about politics, culture, health, community building and social impact. Subscribe for updates today!