Arsenio Hall slaps singer Sinead O’Connor with a hefty libel lawsuit.
In case you missed it, earlier this week, O’Connor posted a note on Facebook accusing the funnyman of supplying Prince with drugs “over the decades” and of spiking her with drugs. In fact, it appeared the 49-year-old wanted Hall to take responsibility for Prince’s alleged addiction, which could have very well led to his unexplained death. “Two words for the DEA investigating where prince got his drugs over the decades … Arsenio Hall. Anyone imagining Prince was not a long time hard drug user is living in cloud cuckoo land,” O’Connor wrote in a post that has since been deleted.
“Arsenio I’ve reported you to the Carver County Sheriff’s office. Expect their call. They are aware you spiked me years ago at Eddie Murphy’s house. You best get tidying your man cave,” she continued.
A day later, she penned a more than 1,400-word rant aimed at the Coming to America actor, adding that a truncated version of his first name “sounds like Arse Hole, in a Limerick accent.”
Now, Hall, who has since denied the “heinous accusations,” is suing O’Connor over her statement flowing with “despicable, fabricated lies.” The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 5, is seeking damages of “not less than” $5 million. “Desperate, attention seeker Sinead O’Connor has maliciously published outlandish defamatory lies about comedian Arsenio Hall, falsely accusing him of supplying illegal ‘hard drugs’ ‘over the decades’ to the recently deceased music artist, Prince, and of spiking her with drugs once years ago,” the lawsuit says.
Furthermore, Hall claims he’s only had “minimal contact” with O’Connor, most recently 25 years ago, and that her “malicious and reckless lies” have “spread like wildfire across the media through the United States and the world, causing substantial harm to Hall’s reputation.” By “falsely accusing” him, O’Connor has also put a target on Hall’s back, leaving him open to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy” and/or cause him to be “shunned or avoided.”
Meanwhile, O’Connor, who had a huge hit with her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” has not publicly commented on the suit.
As more details emerge about the possible role opioid drugs may have had in Prince’s passing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency announced Wednesday, May 4 that they have joined forces with local investigators led by the Carver County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the music icon’s death and will provide “federal resources and expertise about prescription drug diversion,” according to a statement issued by federal prosecutors in Minneapolis.
