Flourgon settles US$300 million lawsuit against Miley Cyrus
Dancehall toaster Flourgon has settled a US$300 million copyright lawsuit he filed against international singer Miley Cyrus in 2018.
The veteran deejay had accused the pop star and Sony Music of stealing lyrics from his 1988 track We Run Things for her 2013 party smash We Can’t Stop. Though his song was widely popular in the year of its release, the Redman International track was not registered until 2017.
In Cyrus’ song, she
belts: “we run things, things don’t run we,” which Flourgon said was
misappropriated, as his lyrics also express, “we run things, things don’t
run we.”
According to
Reuters, in a letter dated December 12, Cyrus’ lawyers said the settlement had
been signed and that a stipulation would be filed “pending payment of the
settlement proceeds,” which were not detailed.
The parties filed a
joint stipulation in Manhattan federal court on Friday ending the lawsuit with
prejudice, which means it cannot be filed again.
We Can’t Stop peaked at number
two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013, and to this day has more than 800 million
streams on YouTube.
Flourgon, whose
given name is Michael May, rose to popularity in the 1980s with songs like One Foot Skank and Badboy Tune.
He forms part of the
musical roster of Park Lane, Red Hills in St Andrew, where other entertainers
like Sanchez, Daddy Lizard and his late brother, Red Dragon, honed their
musical skills.
His latest releases
include Enemies and Can’t Live Without You, which he
co-produced with Daddy Lizard.
