JAY-Z and Eminem Are Suing the Weinstein Company for Unpaid Royalties

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished May 7, 2018

JAY-Z and Eminem are taking legal action against the Weinstein Company over allegedly unpaid royalties, according to newly filed court documents. 

The hip-hop giants claim they are owed roughly $800,000 USD, in addition to rights for projects they had with the company, court filings as part of bankruptcy proceedings reveal [via Deadline].

In his suit, Eminem alleges the Weinstein Company owes him $352,000 USD for his work on 2015 boxing drama Southpaw, for which he contributed music and executive produced the soundtrack.

The money is said to be owed for licensing songs "Phenomenal," "Phenomenal 2" and "Kings Never Die." Eminem's lawyers claim that only $48,000 USD has been paid, writing in the filing, "to date, no licenses have been granted to TWC or Producer to Exploit the Music Party Repertoire embodied in the Southpaw film, trailer(s), and/or any other related assets."

JAY-Z's suit claims he is owed at least $480,000 for both his 2017 docuseries Time: The Kalief Browder Story and the forthcoming Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.

The Weinstein Company has said in legal filings it owes the rapper nothing for Time, while failing to mention Rest in Power.

The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in March of this year, following accusations of sexual harassment and assault against company co-founder and co-namesake Harvey Weinstein from over 70 women.

Harvey's brother and company co-founder, Bob Weinstein, was also accused of sexual harassment by a female Spike TV showrunner.

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