Things are looking more like a “Hot Girl Bummer” than a “Hot Girl Summer” for one ex-Boston Red Sox outfielder.
Carl Crawford founded the record label “1501 Certified Entertainment” after his 15-year Major League Baseball career came to a close in 2016. But Crawford now finds himself in a lawsuit filed by Megan Thee Stallion.
The situation escalated Monday when a Texas federal judge granted the rapper, whose full name is Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, a temporary restraining order against Crawford and the label, per Billboard. Pete hopes to have her contract with 1501 voided, claiming that she only has been paid $15,000 by the label, despite having 1 billion streams and selling more than 300,000 individual downloads — a revenue estimated to total $7 million.
Pete filed the lawsuit after she attempted to renegotiate her contract but reportedly was met with backlash. She then took to Instagram on Sunday to share her side of the story.
However, Crawford claimed they haven’t spoken since August, calling Pete a “fraud.”
“She just has so many holes in her story, and it’s almost on some delusional type stuff. The bubble of Hollywood and her eight million followers has really clouded her head, because the stuff that she’s saying is not true,” Crawford told Billboard.
“It’s a whole lie. Nothing is true that she said. Me being greedy and taking money from her, that’s crazy. I never tried to take nothing from her. The only thing we ever did was give, give, give.”
Pete claims there’s “a provision literally requiring 1501 to do nothing while taking 60 percent of recording income” and that “there’s a provision that all royalties payable to third parties (such as producers, mixers, remixers and featured artists) are paid solely out of (her) 40 percent interest,” per court documents obtained by E! News.
Crawford has quite a history when it comes to his own contracts. He signed a lucrative seven-year, $142 million deal with the Boston Red Sox ahead of the 2011 Major League Baseball season, but was unable to play a complete season due to injuries. Crawford then was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, where he played 3 1/2 seasons. He was released from L.A. after playing just 30 games in his final year, but was paid his full $21.8 million salary.
A hearing on whether to extend the restraining order is scheduled for March 13th.
