Swizz Beatz And Timbaland Are Suing Triller For $28 Million Over Verzuz
Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, according to TMZ, are suing Triller for allegedly failing to pay them for their program Verzuz. The lawsuit asserts that in January 2021, the major producers sold Verzuz to Triller with the condition that Triller would pay them each $9 million by March 17th (and earlier if the company were to reach a minimum funding threshold). Triller would then pay them each $500,000 on the first of each month for the following ten months.
Timbaland and Swiss reached a settlement with the business following the initial default payment, but they contend that Triller hasn’t learned their lesson and is still playing the same game. As a result, the duo is suing the video-sharing social networking platform for $28 million plus interest.
“To date, Defendants have failed and refused to make any payment to [Swizz Beatz and Timbaland] of the past due sums due and owing,” the lawsuit reads.
Triller seems to be receiving criticism on their site from the pair and Black creatives. According to Complex, the site was recently the target of serious accusations that it had failed to pay up-and-coming artists as had been publicly promised. The application advertised that it had made “the largest ever one-time commitment of cash to Black producers” when it awarded yearlong contracts to 300 well-known Black social media creators for a combined total of $14 million in 2021.
The Washington Post reported on the alleged failure to pay these founders, as well as their subsequent financial difficulties in spite of being promised $4,000 per month in the form of equity. David Warren, 22, told the WP,
“This program was meant to make us financially free and to empower Black people. They told us that so much was going to happen to us. We were made to look like fools.”
He added, “All these platforms preach about diversity, but just like old Hollywood, there’s a lot of people being used as token characters while the owners of the platforms profit.”
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