Capitol Records is staring down a lawsuit over their botched plan to launch an A.I. rapping robot.
Last week, the company announced they had signed the robot, known as FN Meka, which has over 10 million followers on TikTok.
In mid-August, Capitol Records announced it had teamed with Factory New, the creators of FN Meka, to sign the robot to a record deal.
The partnership came on the heels of the popularity and mild success of the song “Florida Water,” featuring Gunna and Clix.
But the deal was met with immediate backlash because the robot used the “n-word,” cusses, and was accused of being a caricature of a stereotypical black rapper.
It didn’t help that an image of a police officer beating up FN Meka went viral after the deal was announced,
Capitol Records eventually bowed to the pressure and dropped FN Meka from the roster, but now they have a new issue causing many to think Factory New and Capitol Records were capitalizing on Black death.
Kyle The Hooligan, the rapper who powered the A.I. robot’s voice, has started the process of suing Capitol Records for backing out of the agreement.
According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, Kyle claims he was promised equity in the company for providing FN Meka’s voice.
“Despite multiple requests, we have not received a response from or been put in contact with Factory New’s or Brandon Le’s legal representatives, nor have we received any formal offer for compensation. We are continuing to evaluate our options and are hopeful for a swift and just resolution to this matter.”
Kyle The Hooligan and his lawyer claim he gave them most of the ideas for the rapping robot, and had they only consulted him, blunders like the police brutality photo would never have happened.
Representatives for Capitol Records have not replied to the pending legal action from Kyle The Hooligan. However, they did issue a statement shortly after FN Meka was dropped from the label.
“We offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it,” Capitol Music Group said in a statement. “We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days—your input was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our association with the project.”