Whew chile, the lawsuit! It’s always sad when groups breakup and partnerships end—but it’s even worse when former group members sue each other. Legendary hip hop group Salt-N-Pepa have found themselves in a legal mess, as recently fired group member DJ Spinderella has officially filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against them.
Earlier this year, fans were shocked to learn that Salt-N-Pepa’s DJ and unofficial third member, Spinderella (real name Deidra Roper) had been fired from the group. Well, now Spin has taken things one step further and decided to sue her former groupmates while detailing years of allegedly being left out of the financial benefits Salt and Pep were receiving.
According to @TMZ, Spin claims the money she’s owed dates back 20 years, with the release of the Salt-N-Pepa Best Of album. She says she was promised one third of the royalties for the album and promised $125K that she never received.
It doesn’t stop there, as Spin also states that she was supposed to appear on the group’s VH1 series, but was shut out before she got the promised one-third of the fee for the show. She further claims that she didn’t receive any money for the group’s 2018 appearance at the Billboard Music Awards.
Additionally in the lawsuit, Spin also has a big issue with not getting her share of the group royalties as well. She says she was informed by SoundExchange — which collects and distributes royalties to artists — that her groupmates had been paid more than $600k in royalties over the last decade, but she had not received anything at all.
Spinderella’s suing for trademark infringement because she says Salt-N-Pepa continue to use her to promote performances, and also for fraud and breach of contract. At press time, Salt (real name Cheryl James) nor Pepa (real name Sandra Denton) have publicly responded to her lawsuit.
Roommates, what do you think about Spinderella’s lawsuit?