Singer-songwriter Blackbear has reached a settlement a social media personality and influencer who alleged in a lawsuit that he took advantage of her youth to manipulate her for his own benefit and induced her to use drugs.
The woman is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against the entertainer, whose real name is Matthew Tyler Musto. On Wednesday, Doe’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Jeffery D. McFarland notifying him that the case was resolved and that a request for dismissal will be brought within 60 days.
On May 29, McFarland heard arguments on Musto’s anti-SLAPP motion and tossed out Doe’s claims for non-consensual distribution of intimate images, civil exploitation, invasion of privacy, and defamation and public disclosure of private facts.
However, the judge said he was not dismissing other allegations in the complaint as Musto had requested, including civil theft and civil harassment and stalking, finding that not all of Doe’s causes of action involve violations of “protected” speech. Prior to the settlement announcement, Musto’s attorneys filed notice that the musician was appealing the judge’s ruling allowing the remaining claims to proceed.
In his ruling, the judge said the allegations he chose not to strike “involve a wide range of conduct including theft of plaintiff’s valuable items following her departure from defendant’s home, providing and encouraging her to use controlled substances, persistent and unwanted communication, monitoring and psychological manipulation and harassing and reckless behavior unconnected to protected activity.”
In their court papers, Doe’s attorneys stated that there was no evidence of any “protected” speech on the 35-year-old Musto’s part and that his entire motion was “frivolous and was filed solely to harass plaintiff and delay these proceedings.”
The state’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
In their previous court papers, Musto’s attorneys stated that the couple separated in the summer of 2025 after a “tumultuous and emotionally fraught” relationship. The breakup did not go smoothly and Musto had to force Doe out of his home and then seek a restraining order against her, according to Musto’s lawyers’ court papers.
According to Doe’s lawsuit, she first met Musto online in 2012 when she was 17 years old and living in Texas. Doe had “long romanticized the artistic and cultural life of Los Angeles,” the suit stated.
Musto, already an established figure in the music industry, recognized Doe’s youth, vulnerability and admiration and deliberately began engaging with her through social media, the suit alleged.
During the relationship, the “Hot Girl Bummer” singer was manipulative, using controlling and verbally abusive behavior toward her and repeatedly inserted himself into her life by manipulating her romantic relationships and exploiting her emotional connection to him for his own personal gain and publicity, the suit further contended.
According to the suit, Musto has long struggled with severe substance abuse and his erratic behavior escalated during relapse. The alleged trait intensified when Doe was 19 and 20 years old and he provided her with excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol, rendering her incapacitated, disoriented and unable to recall events, the suit stated.
While Musto was receiving treatment for diabetic shock at a facility in December 2024, Doe spoke to him daily and remained sober in solidarity as he showed her songs he claimed were written for and about her, the suit filed last Nov. 25 stated.