As long as there’s been a Hollywood, there have been gossip columnists. As much as they claim to not respect one another, it’s clear that they need each other to exist. For those of you not familiar with the inner workings of celebrity life, some of them routinely have people tip off paparazzi to their location, so their name stays in the headlines. However, there is definitely a line between telling TMZ where you’ll be for dinner and having someone like YouTuber Tasha K blatantly make up stories about you. The frequent legal target has once again found herself in hot water, as Kevin Hart is the latest celebrity to file a lawsuit against her.
According to Rolling Stone, on Tuesday, the comedian/actor filed a suit accusing Tasha K, real name Latasha Kebe, and his former personal assistant, Miesha Shakes, of “extortion and invasion of privacy, Shakes of breach of contract and defamation, and Kebe of intentional interference with contractual relations.” He alleges that Tasha demanded $250,000 not to post a “‘defamatory’ interview” with Shakes.
When one of the YouTuber’s associates anonymously called the “Lift” star, he refused to pay the money, got the police involved and sent a cease and desist letter to Kebe on Nov. 22.
“You have already engaged in criminal conduct and tortious acts that would entitle Mr. Hart to monetary damages against you should he elect to commence civil litigation regarding this matter,” the letter states.
As previously reported by The Root, this isn’t Tasha’s first time dealing with the legal consequences of her questionable ethics. After a long, protracted legal battle, she was ordered to pay rapper Cardi B $4.25 million in a libel suit. Kebe was declared legally responsible for “defamation…invasion of privacy through portrayal in a false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Most recently, she had an interview with Will Smith’s former assistant, who claimed that he saw the “King Richard” star having sex with actor Duane Martin. Will’s representatives said the story was “completely fabricated,” while his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith told TMZ, “We suing!”
If you want to speculate on what actor is joining what movie, or start rumors about who’s dating who, fine, that sort of thing is always going to happen. But when you start speculating, or even straight up lying, about someone else’s sexuality, you’ve reached a new low. You’re taking the most personal, private aspect of someone’s life and gossiping about it for clicks on your YouTube channel. Whether or not any of this is true—for the record, it’s all totally unsubstantiated—you put this out into the world without any regard to the effect it would have on Will or his family.
In case she hasn’t noticed, there’s been a lot of negativity aimed toward the LGBTQ+ community lately. Did she stop for one second to consider that it might be dangerous to wildly start rumors about the sexuality of a high-profile Black actor who was already going through other scandals? Of course she didn’t, because all that mattered were the headlines featuring her name.
Back in July, she very publicly attacked Beyonce’s 11-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, for her performance skills during the “Renaissance” tour. Seriously, how low do you have to be to go after a child for having fun on stage with her mom? Just because her parents are famous doesn’t make her fair game. She’s still only 11! Once again, did she stop to think about the target she was putting on a child with her nonsense? No, because she clearly treats celebrities like they’re not real people.
Since she’s now involved in an alleged extortion scheme, she can’t claim that anything she does is about truth or reporting or just gossipy fun.
I know it’s human nature to slow down and catch a glimpse of the car wreck on the side of the road, but there is really no need for Tasha K to still have such a huge platform. She’s the worst form of clout chaser and it’s long past time that we stop giving her attention. There are plenty of places to get fun, harmless gossip that doesn’t do irreparable damage to people’s careers and lives.