Singer-songwriter Blackbear has won dismissal on First Amendment grounds of multiple allegations against him by a social media personality and influencer who says 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 Friday, Judge Jeffery 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, finding that not all of Doe’s causes of action involve “protected” speech.
“Rather, these claims 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,” McFarland wrote.
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 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.
According to Doe’s lawsuit, she first met Musto online in 2012 when she was 17 years old and living in Texas and had “long romanticized the artistic and cultural life of Los Angeles.”
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 alleges.
During the relationship, Musto 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 contends.
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 states.
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 Nov. 25 states.