Jason Derulo and Atlantic Recording Corp. are seeking a second avenue to be dismissed as defendants in a lawsuit filed by an aspiring singer who alleges Derulo signed her to his record company, then later threatened and fired her after she resisted his sexual advances.
Emaza Gibson claims in her Los Angeles Superior Court suit that Derulo hired her in 2021 and “promised to make multiple music albums” with her as part of a joint venture with Atlantic Recording Corp. and his label, Future History, which were named as co-defendants.
On Friday, lawyers for Derulo, 34, and Atlantic filed court papers with Judge Kerry Bensinger stating that if Gibson was going to file a lawsuit, it should have been brought in New York state rather than in California.
“The artist agreement and the inducement agreement, both signed by plaintiff, each provide that they are deemed to have been made in New York, that they are governed by New York law and that the federal or state courts located in New York County have sole and exclusive jurisdiction of any action related to the agreements,” attorneys for Derulo and the record label state in their court papers.
The parties’ selection of New York as the exclusive place to resolve any disputes about the agreements was “rational and reasonable and plaintiff cannot meet her heavy burden to establish otherwise,” the Derulo-Atlantic lawyers further argue in court papers filed in advance of an April 9 hearing.
In previous court papers in which the same two defendants seek to be removed from the case in a hearing set April 16, their attorneys allege a lack of detail supporting the claims against their client. As an example, they note that Gibson alleges Derulo told her that in order to be successful in the music industry, an artist needs to partake in “goat skin and fish scales.” Both are slang phrases in which “goat skin” means to drink alcohol and “fish scales” refers to cocaine, according to the Derulo-Atlantic attorneys’ court papers.
“Ignoring the actual meanings of the words, plaintiff offers only the conclusory assertion that `goat skin’ instead refers to a sexual ritual involving goat’s blood and that she understood that Mr. Derulo was propositioning her for sex,” the defense attorneys further state in their court papers. “Her false allegation as to the meaning of two specifically defined phrases is ridiculous on its face and does not need to be accepted by the court.”
Further, there are no allegations that anyone at Atlantic mistreated Gibson, nor does she allege that Derulo was Atlantic’s employee or agent, the Derulo-Atlantic lawyers maintain.
“In the end, none of the alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment, violence or intimidation…,” the defense attorneys argue in their court papers.
But according to Gibson’s lawsuit, “goat skin and fish scales” is a Haitian reference referring to conducting sex rituals, sacrificing a goat, goat blood and doing cocaine.
The lawsuit contends that “the manner and timing of such a statement meant that Derulo was demanding sexual acts from plaintiff in order for Derulo to fulfill his role as her mentor, supervisor and musical collaborator. This explicit demand for sex-in-exchange-for-success was reinforced through Derulo’s subsequent behavior.”
Derulo later began regularly inviting Gibson to have drinks or dinner, requests she declined in an effort to keep their relationship professional, according to the lawsuit filed last Oct. 5, which further states she eventually insisted that her mother/manager be present during all future meetings or recording sessions, allegedly angering Derulo and causing him to stop answering her texts.
Gibson was fired in September 2022, the suit states, and was never able to get a response from Atlantic executives about her allegations of “sexually, emotionally and physically inappropriate behavior.”
Gibson allegedly suffered breakdowns, weight loss, mood swings, hopelessness, loss of motivation and feelings of betrayal and deception and had to seek mental health treatment, leading to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.