Busta Rhymes is rejecting claims leveled against him in a lawsuit filed this week by a former assistant, calling it an “attempted shake-down.”
Dashiel Gables, who filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, is accusing Rhymes — real name Trevor Smith Jr. — of wage and hour violations as well as assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“I have been made aware of the claims made by Dashiel Gables, and I completely and categorically deny these allegations,” Rhymes said in a statement to The Times. “For a very brief period, Dashiel assisted me, but it did not work out. Apparently, Dashiel has decided to respond to being let go by manufacturing claims against me in an attempt to attack and damage my reputation.”
Rhymes, 53, said he is preparing a countersuit and is “confident [it] will expose this for what it is — an attempted shake-down by a disgruntled former assistant.”
In the lawsuit, which was reviewed by The Times, Gables alleges that Rhymes repeatedly called him a slur related to sexuality and mocked his poor hearing by telling him to “get a hearing aid.” He also says he was improperly categorized as a salaried employee and wasn’t paid overtime despite allegedly being required to work 15-, 16- and 18-hour shifts regularly for a flat $200 a day.
The lawsuit says he was required to perform “menial tasks,” including fetching cigars for the rapper.
The suit says Gables, 44, accompanied Rhymes on tour from early July to early September of last year, seven days a week, without being paid travel time or overtime, then worked for him from 2 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily without pay over his day rate from Sept. 3, 2024, until Jan. 10.
On that last day, the lawsuit alleges, Rhymes “constructively terminated” Gables’ employment “by repeatedly punching him in the face” after first raging at his assistant for not promptly bringing a “catering-size” pan of chicken in from the rapper’s car, then chewing Gables out for sending a text to his minor daughter during work hours.
Gables “tolerated a great deal of abuse while working for Busta Rhymes, he could not tolerate the repeated physical assault and was unable to return to work,” the complaint says, adding that Gables went to the hospital for treatment of bruising and swelling and filed a police report regarding the alleged assault. He did not return to work.
After Gables filed the police report he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry,” the complaint alleges. He is seeking back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages and is asking for a jury trial.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
