Everyone knows the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” but in this day age words and statements are not to be taken lightly and can cause a lot of damage. While social media gives celebrities the ability to speak their minds to their fans, there have been plenty of public figures that have eaten their written words when they have not been cautious about while posting about others. In a recent incident, hip-hop superstar Jayceon Taylor, better known as The Game, has recently came out with a slanderous statement about his previous babysitter, Karen Monroe, on Instagram and Twitter. This resulted in a lawsuit from Ms. Monroe, who states The Game hurt her reputation.
The Game, famous for tracks such as “Red Nation” and “Hate It Or Love It”, took to social media to proclaim “ATTENTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! & Beware of this woman Karen Monroe!!!!!! Her Instagram is @karyn27 & I have blocked her from all three of my IG accounts!!! She was my children’s sitter up until last year & FIRED for being caught lying, stealing, screaming at my kids, mistreating others kids & doing very inappropriate and unbecoming things of a baby sitter…” This was blasted out to all of his fans and causing Ms. Monroe negative feedback. This statement caused Ms. Monroe’s reputation to be tarnished and received a multitude of death threats and had individuals express their hatred for her . In this lawsuit, the defamatory statements made by the The Game were seen as “foreseeable” and would be republished by others apposed to other lawsuits brought on by statements by celebrities on social media.
All in all, The Game has millions of followers that were able to view his post about Ms. Monroe and his words might not hurt him physically, but they definitely will hurt his pockets. Monroe states she lost her job, her ability to work in her industry and has experienced depression. Ms. Monroe is seeking an unannounced amount of special and general damages against The Game. There is no official court date set up.