By EFE
The family of George Floyd, the African American murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, announced on Tuesday a defamation lawsuit against rapper Kanye West, from whom he claims 250 million dollars for saying that the cause of his death was the consumption of fentanyl and not police violence.
The lawsuit comes after West said in an interview on the
Drink Champs
podcast that Floyd died from fentanyl use and not from suffocation caused by police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on the victim's neck for more than nine minutes, as confirmed by the autopsy and the court ruling that convicted the agent.
The rapper, who has spent a season of erratic behavior and constant provocations, endorsed the theory of the conservative commentator Candace Owens, very popular in the American extreme right forums.
Terrence Floyd removes his jacket to reveal a T-shirt with the face of his brother, George Floyd, during a vigil on May 25, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
"Our office represents the daughter of Mr. Floyd and her mother. As you can expect, our clients are very hurt by his allegations.
The cause of death of Mr. Floyd is well clarified
through the evidence presented in court," says a statement released by the law firm Witherspoon Law Group.
During the trial for Floyd's death, the doctor who performed the autopsy indicated that the victim's heart problems and his consumption of fentanyl were aggravating factors for the fatal outcome, although the main reason for death was suffocation caused by the police.
[Kanye West Buys Conservative Social Network Parler After Being Banned From Twitter Over Anti-Semitic Posts]
Chauvin, the police officer who put his leg on Floyd's neck as the man screamed that he couldn't breathe, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder in June 2021 and another 20 more after pleading guilty to excessive use of force and discrimination.
Both sentences can be served simultaneously.
Police took Floyd into custody on May 25, 2020 after a clerk accused him of trying to pay for a box of cigarettes with a counterfeit bill.
His arrest and death were recorded by several passers-by and broadcast on the internet, which led to a wave of protests throughout the United States against police violence and discrimination under the slogan Black Lives Matter.