The First Amendment does not protect the creator of “UnWineWithTashaK,” who also is the host of “The Wine Cellar,” from liability for allegedly defamatory statements made during an online interview in which she and a former Kevin Hart personal assistant discussed the comedian, a judge found in a mixed ruling Wednesday.
Attorneys for Latasha Transrina Kebe, who also is known as Tasha K, previously filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie asking that Hart’s claims against Kebe, her husband Cheickna and Kebe’s media company, Yelen Entertainment LLC, for defamation, invasion of privacy, civil extortion and intentional infliction of contractual relations be dismissed under the state’s anti-SLAPP statute.
The anti-SLAPP law — Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation — is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their free-speech rights. On Wednesday, the judge ruled that Hart can proceed with his causes of action for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional interference with contract. Fujie dismissed the claim for civil extortion as well as the causes of action for defamation and invasion of privacy by Hart’s company, Kevin Hart Enterprises.
The lawsuit originally filed Dec. 26 and amended Jan. 2 involves a social media conversation between Kebe and Hart’s ex-personal assistant, Miesha Shakes. In their court papers, the 44-year-old Hart’s attorneys maintain their client and his company, K. Hart Enterprises Inc., 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 the comedian and Shakes had a non-disclosure agreement and that Shakes breached the accord, although Shakes maintains the contract took advantage of her mental state at the time. Hart’s attorneys also contend that Shakes and Kebe sought money in order to keep quiet.
At one point during the interview, Shakes conceded, “I know what I’m saying is not okay,” according to the Hart attorney pleadings.
“Consistent with Kebe’s cavalier and malicious approach in such interviews, she boasted, `We don’t cut, paste, edit, we just put it out,”’ according to Hart’s lawyers’ court papers.
Kebe has a history of publishing and broadcasting defamatory content about public figures and was recently found liable for nearly $4 million in a defamation suit brought by Cardi B, according to Hart’s attorneys’ pleadings.
In a sworn declaration, Hart says Shakes admitted during the interview that she obtained some of the information she discussed by secretly listening through the walls to private conversations at Hart’s offices.
Hart denied Shakes’ assertion that he made a secret video recording of a romantic liaison he had with a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2017 and he additionally says she wrongfully divulged information about his interactions with his wife after the hotel encounter became public.
Fujie said in her ruling that Shakes and Kebe agree that Hart never faced criminal charges in connection with the Las Vegas matter.
“Shakes and Kebe’s use of the word `charges’ in context and based on the common usage of the word could lead a reasonable observer to conclude that Hart faced criminal prosecution,” Fujie said.
Hart said in a sworn declaration that he “will continue to suffer damage to my reputation and thus to my present and future business and financial prospects as a result of the false and defamatory statements the interview conveyed.”
In a sworn declaration submitted in support of her anti-SLAPP motion, Kebe said that given the number of years Shakes worked for Hart, she believed the statements by Shakes were accurate.
” I did not believe there was a serious likelihood that any of those factual assertions were false,” Kebe said.
Kebe also denied that she or anyone acting on her behalf called a representative of the comedian offering to not air the interview in exchange for $250,000 and she additionally contended she did not know of any non-disclosure agreement Shakes had with Hart.