Drake pays $350k in sexual assault settlement: Here’s why no one cares
Details have emerged that Drake paid out $350k to Laquana Morris, also known as Layla Lace, this past November in a settlement where she accused him of sexual assault.
If you remember, Pusha wasn’t the only one accusing Drake of hiding a kid. Similar accusations came forth in 2017 after Drake and Morris had become intimate during the UK leg of his Boys Meets World tour.
While Drake admits the encounter, he always maintained that everything was consensual. However new revelations of him shelling out $350k to the alleged victim paints a new narrative, or at least it should.
Sexual harassment? Settlement? In this here 2019? Under any other circumstance, a report divulging such explosive accusations, even if not proven true, in this era we live in alone, should garner, at the very least, a number one trend on Twitter.
Although they aren’t indictments, we’ve seen this before. Like Bill O’Reilly, who had legal settlements totaling a reported $45 million and Harvey Weinstein, who reached a tentative $44 million deal to resolve lawsuits. What about our current sitting president and his dealing with porn star Stormy Daniels? All that guap for what? It’s not like money absolves guilt too.
With #Metoo #TimesIsUp and other progressive movements, you’d think there’d at least been a cancel Drake campaign. What happened to “believing women?”
However, Mr. OVO has been virtually unscathed by this scandal and there’s only one reason why. Drake is responsible for too many of our favorite memories to let him go that easy.
We’re talking about a man who’s hit, “Best I Ever Had,” debuted on the chart in 2009, and went an unprecedented run of 431 consecutive weeks on the Hot 100. We’re talking about “HoustonAtlantaVegas,” “Controlla” and the co-rapper of WATTBA.
The Canadian culture shifter has had ladies’ hearts from the jump and summers on smash like clockwork. It’d be foolish not to believe that the court of public opinion would afford his graces they wouldn’t other stars.
And, to be clear, Layla’s story doesn’t exactly hold up.
After going public on social media saying that she was pregnant by Drake and appearing on a SiriusXM to confirm the rumors, Drake’s lawyers asked for a paternity test, which she refused.
After the baby gimmick didn’t work, Morris and her legal team fabricated a story that Drake raped her. In the police report, she stated that “she was raped, forced to perform oral sex and falsely imprisoned in Drake’s hotel.”
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That’s when he and his lawyer filed against Morris for civil extortion, fraud, emotional distress, abuse of process and defamation, which was settled.
“The filing made by Drake against Layla Lace has been resolved, with Layla avoiding going to trial by agreeing to a stipulated judgment which prohibits her from repeating past statements she made against Drake,” Drake’s attorney Larry Stein said in a statement to TMZ last year.
“Drake and his team are satisfied with this outcome and while Drake appreciates the support he has received, he asks that his fans and the media allow both parties to move on with their lives.”
However, due to the new findings, thanks to the complaint Morris recently filed against her own attorney with the New York Attorney Grievance Committee obtained by The Blast, shouldn’t we be handling Drake and this entire situation a little differently?
Although the complaint violates the settlement between Morris and Drake, it shows that he indeed gave her money despite denying all allegations. Additionally, it exposes explicit details of what took place.
According to the complaint, Morris states:
“I, Laquana Morris signed a retainer agreement with Alexander Cabereiras on January 23, 2018. I explained to him that I was sexually assaulted by the rapper Drake.”
Morris then gives explicit details and explains, “How Drake forced me to perform oral on him. It wasn’t your ordinary oral it was more so a fetish where he measured a cup and demanded that I spit in the cup until he had measured it…
“Afterward, he dumped the spit on my face repeating, ‘I wanna see your face messy.'”
Morris also states, “Being that the incident happening in Manchester UK I had to file a police report over there. I called the Manchester Police Department in June 2017.” Subsequently, Drake was investigated by authorities in the UK based on Morris’ complaint and the rapper was eventually cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.
Still, the lead investigator sent Laquana an email explaining that the reason he wasn’t prosecuted is that they couldn’t secure a “100%” conviction, which, sadly, is the case for many women who really have gone through it. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), for every 1,000 rapes, 993 will go unpunished.
I mean, look, I like Drake just as much as the next guy. But if we’re being honest, there wasn’t a rush to judgment nor call for his cancelation because of the music he makes. We may never really know what happened in that hotel room in the UK that night, but Drake deserves more a little more accountability regardless.
