Beyoncé Faces Lawsuit from Deceased YouTube Star

Tiffany Chen, Staff Writer

  Days after Beyoncé announced that she was expecting twins, a lawsuit was filed against her for $20 million. The family of late YouTube star, Messy Mya, claimed that Beyoncé had used lines and video clips from the YouTuber’s song.

  Messy Mya, otherwise known as Anthony Barré, often produced songs on his views of political issues. His videos would normally gain around a couple thousand views. However, in 2010 the YouTuber was fatally shot.

  The lawsuit claimed that in her song “Formation,” the line, ‘Oh, I like that,’ can be heard at the one-minute mark, which apparently came from Barré’s song, “A 29-Piece Yeah?” The lawsuit was also filed against the songwriters, video directors, and companies owned by Warner Music Group.  

   Alexis Sgobbo (10) stated, “I didn’t know who Messy Mya was, but I’m not surprised that Beyoncé was sued. She’s a big star so it makes sense that she would be targeted.”

  This is not the first time the artist has dealt with a lawsuit. Back in 2014, singer Ahmad Javon Lane attempted to sue Beyoncé for $7.1 million. He said that Beyoncé’s song “X.O.” was a copy of his song “XOXO.” According to Huffington Post, the case was later dismissed.

  “No disrespect to the people who think Beyoncé is copying them, but I doubt that she would steal someone else’s songs. Also the lines that were ‘stolen’ are very common lyrics so it doesn’t make sense to sue her for a couple million dollars,” said Edwin Rivera (11).

  Recently the singer was framed for plagiarism again. About a year ago, her newly released album, Lemonade, faced a lawsuit from independent filmmaker, Matthew Fulks. Fulks declared that the album’s visual trailer was stolen from his short film “Palinoia.” But once again, the case was dismissed.