A judge Thursday denied Kevin Hart’s request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting further viewing of what the comedian maintains are statements by his former personal aide defaming him in a December online interview, but the judge left open the door for Hart to pursue a preliminary injunction through another judge.
Hart’s lawyers wanted Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff to order the immediate removal from social media the conversation between Hart’s ex-personal assistant, Miesha Shakes, and Latasha Kebe, who also is known as Tasha K.
Hart, 44, and his company, K. Hart Enterprises Inc., have suffered “irreparable harm from the continued publication and broadcasting of the interview and related content, which includes defamatory statements, including false statements regarding Hart’s supposed criminal conduct, which are damaging to his reputation and thereby to his livelihood as a performer,” Hart’s lawyers maintain in their court papers.
Hart and Shakes had a non-disclosure agreement and Shakes breached that accord, Hart’s lawyers further allege.
“Defendants initially attempted to extort Hart into paying defendants a ransom to keep them from publishing the interview, which they threatened would include private and damaging information about plaintiffs,” Hart’s attorneys’ court papers state. “When Hart declined to pay that ransom, defendants followed through on their threat and proceeded to publish the interview.”
The pair’s statements are “false and defamatory on their face” and the assertion that Hart faced criminal charges could easily have been disproved with “even minimal investigation,” according to Hart’s lawyers.
But Beckloff denied the TRO request and said Hart can file court papers with Judge Holly Fujie, the primary supervising judge of the case, if he wants to pursue a preliminary injunction.
Shakes worked for Hart’s company from August 2017 to October 2020, the complaint filed Dec. 26 states.
Published on Kebe’s Instagram account and YouTube channel Unwine with Tasha K on Dec. 22, the interview includes allegations from Shakes that Hart, 44, had an affair at his office. Shakes also said she told Hart’s wife, Eniko, that he was being unfaithful.
The conversation interview had a preview that stated, “The interview that Kevin Hart will wish never came out,” the suit states.
The interview is still viewable online.