Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation must keep fighting legal claims from a cameraman who says he was forced to watch the rapper have sex in a car during a European tour, a federal judge has ruled.
In an opinion dated Wednesday (July 2), Judge Gregory H. Woods says cameraman Emilio Garcia has pleaded sufficient facts to continue litigating bombshell discrimination and retaliation claims he brought last spring against the star (Megan Pete) and her management company.
In their bid to dismiss the case, Megan and Roc Nation have called Garcia a “con artist” and deny that the star forced him to watch her have sex with a woman inside a moving car while on tour in Ibiza, Spain, in 2022. But Judge Woods says the cameraman, who is gay, “plausibly pleads that the alleged sexual encounter in the SUV in Ibiza created a hostile work environment based on plaintiff’s sexual orientation.”
“Plaintiff asks the court to draw the inference that ‘Pete would not have engaged in group sex with other women in front of a heterosexual male’; that ‘Pete felt comfortable engaging in group sex with other women in front of plaintiff because of plaintiff’s sexuality and gender,’” writes the judge. “This is not an unreasonable inference to draw from the facts alleged. Therefore, plaintiff has plausibly pleaded that he experienced the alleged inferior conditions of his employment on account of his sexual orientation.”
The order also declines to dismiss Garcia’s retaliation claims against Megan and Roc Nation, which allege he had his hours and pay rates cut back after complaining about the SUV incident. Garcia says he was later fired from Megan’s entourage and “blackballed” from working elsewhere in the entertainment industry.
“These facts raise a reasonable inference that material terms and conditions of plaintiff’s employment were altered in retaliation for speaking up about the Ibiza incident,” writes Judge Woods.
While Megan and Roc Nation must now keep fighting these blockbuster claims, they did succeed in paring back Garcia’s lawsuit. Judge Woods’ order dismisses an additional hostile work environment claim under California law, as well as aiding and abetting allegations and overtime wage claims.
Reached for comment on the ruling on Monday (July 7), Garcia’s attorney, Ron Zambrano, tells Billboard that the order will allow him to re-plead the dismissed claims in an amended complaint.
“We have plenty of facts after fourteen depositions we’ve taken to get the facts in we need,” Zambrano says. “I’m sure.”
A spokesperson for Megan and Roc Nation did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision.
