Judge Tosses J.Prince’s Lawsuit Against BET, Apple

 •  XXL Magazine  •  by XXL Staff  •  11 Comments

A federal judge in Houston has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Rap-A-Lot Records founder James Prince against cable network BET, Viacom and Apple Computer. The suit, filed last December, accused BET of incorrectly portraying Prince and his employee Thomas Randle as violent criminals and making “defamatory statements” about the two men. The complaint stemmed from a commercial that the network aired as a promotion for an episode of their American Gangster documentary series that centered on notorious Chicago gangster Larry Hoover. Prince and Randle argued that a photograph that was displayed during the commercial, showing Prince and Randle standing with Hoover—whom they visited in prison—incorrectly implied that they were killers and could hurt their professional reputations. The suit also named Viacom and Apple as defendants, claiming that the companies refused to stop selling the episode as a digital download at the iTunes store. According to the Houston Chronicle, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes on Friday (April 18) shot down Prince’s claims in a six-page ruling. Hughes ruled that the photograph was a fair depiction of the fact that the two men visited Hoover in prison and represented “a broadcast of accurate pictures of their social choices.”

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  • Saint

    The judge was prejudice period point blank!! I mean come on you are in the TEXAS court of law where wrongly indicted men are in jail (over 55,000 cases black men) due to the dna evidence being labeled wrongly to the black men, in Texas you get pulled over for being BLACK, Texas prison has the highest execution rate in the nation. Ok so what am I saying Texas is the most hateful state in AMERICA that’s why J.Prince case was thrown out if he was anywhere besides a Texas court room he would have had a chance!!

    • EReal

      GTFOH.

      the photograph was a fair depiction of the fact that the two men visited Hoover in prison and represented “a broadcast of accurate pictures of their social choices.”
      ^^
      Thats real talk right there. Why you visitin the dude in prison and takin pics with him all buddy buddy and then get butt hurt when someone shows the picture? They didnt talk about dude at all on the show, they showed a picture THEY TOOK, when THEY VISITED the guy in PRISON. Their choice, period.

      Not that Texas isnt a buncha racist fucks, dont get me wrong, but forreal, dude ruled correctly in THIS case.

    • EReal

      (My bad if this double posted)

      GTFOH.

      the photograph was a fair depiction of the fact that the two men visited Hoover in prison and represented “a broadcast of accurate pictures of their social choices.”
      ^^
      Thats real talk right there. Why you visitin the dude in prison and takin pics with him all buddy buddy and then get butt hurt when someone shows the picture? They didnt talk about dude at all on the show, they showed a picture THEY TOOK, when THEY VISITED the guy in PRISON. Their choice, period.

      Not that Texas isnt a buncha racist fucks, dont get me wrong, but forreal, dude ruled correctly in THIS case.

  • Richard

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  • kdizzle

    I agree with Ereal and GTFOH. You don’t want to ba affiliated with dude don’t take the Pic dummy. (And I love Rap-A-Lot but damn).

  • corbin

    co-sign

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  • lil louisiana

    I watched Americian Gangster and when they showed the picture with Lil Jay they also said that the people that visited him was helping in carrying out with the dirt he was doing while he was locked up.With that being said I think this could have damage this man reputation with some business associates.

    • Kev Lomax

      He’s a Hip-Hop executive that owns a label that produces “gangster rap” and has his own line of condomns.

      What reputation?

  • POLO DIZ

    How a record exec who is affiliated with gangstas all of sudden dont want to be affiliated with a real life gangsta….im confused lol

    • Kev Lomax

      They only “gangster” til they facin real gangsters or jail time, then they don’t wanna be affiliated no more.

      Irv Gotti.