T.I. and Tiny Harris returned to court to battle toymaker MGA Entertainment over the company’s OMG Dolls.
According to Rolling Stone, opening statements in the couple’s new trial began on Wednesday (May 10). T.I. and Tiny’s case originally went to trial in January, but it resulted in a mistrial.
A judge declared a mistrial after jurors heard from a customer who accused MGA of cultural appropriation. Judge James Selna refused to allow cultural appropriation claims to be used as evidence in the trial.
“Because of the incurably prejudicial cultural appropriation deposition testimony played to the jury by [T.I. and Tiny], this Court must declare a mistrial,” the judge wrote. “The previously excluded testimony was nothing less than a rant by the witness about how she ‘stopped purchasing’ the OMG Dolls ‘because [she] did not want to support a company that steals from African Americans and their ideas and profit off it and don’t give African Americans the profit.’”
T.I. and Tiny sued MGA for stealing the name and likeness of their OMG Girlz group. Tiny created the pop group in 2009. MGA released its OMG Dolls in 2019.
Earlier this year, Tiny said she was “fighting for what’s right” regarding her lawsuit. MGA denied any wrongdoing.
