Kevin Hart is suing controversial YouTuber LaTasha Kebe — known as Tasha K — for extortion after she allegedly threatened to release a bombshell interview with his former assistant unless he paid her a six-figure “ransom.”
According to a lawsuit obtained by Pvnew Wednesday, Kebe sat down with the actor’s former assistant, Miesha Shakes, in November 2023 to record an interview in which the latter made “false and defamatory statements regarding Hart.”
The comedian, 44, claims that after the interview an alleged affiliate of Kebe called his team and threatened to “publish the interview unless Hart paid a ransom of $250,000.”
At the time, they allegedly warned Hart that the stories told — which had to do with his marriage and business dealings — would be “damaging to [his] reputation.”
Kebe then posted a “teaser” for the interview in which she and Shakes allegedly “touted the supposedly salacious and damaging nature” of the interview as a “threat to Hart” for not paying the “ransom.”
“The teaser included a statement from Kebe at the 2:06 mark of the video specifically warning that ‘when you don’t pay, we have to get money by any means necessary,'” the lawsuit claims.
At that point, the “Jumaji” star’s team allegedly contacted the police and sent the YouTuber a cease and desist letter, noting that Shakes had previously signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement as well as a Confidentiality Agreement while working for Hart from 2017 until 2020.
Yet on Dec. 22, Kebe allegedly told Hart that she would be posting the full interview, which went live that evening on her subscription-based website.
In the interview, Shakes touched on several legal disputes in which he had been involved and alleged that the father of four has a gambling addiction and is a habitual cheater.
The actor is now suing both women for extortion and invasion of privacy. He is also suing Shakes for breach of contract and defamation. Meanwhile, he is also trying to get Kebe for intentional interference with contractual relations.
Reps for Hart and Kebe did not immediately respond to our request for comment. However, seemingly in response to the filing, the controversial influencer reposted her interview with Shakes on her Instagram Story.
Yet this isn’t the first time that the online personality has got into trouble with the law, as Hart pointed out in the lawsuit.
Hart’s lawyers cited the “Unwine with Tasha K” host’s long history with “defamatory and otherwise improper content regarding celebrities and other high-profile individuals” — including Cardi B.
“For instance, most recently, she was found liable for damages exceeding $3 million in a defamation lawsuit by the musician Cardi B,” the lawsuit read, pointing to the rapper’s January 2022 win against the YouTuber.
The “Bodak Yellow” rapper had sued Kebe in 2019 after the latter posted videos claiming the Grammy winner had prostituted herself, was addicted to hard drugs, was unfaithful to her husband Offset, had contracted herpes and even once “f–ked herself with beer bottles.”
During the trial, Cardi testified that she felt “extremely suicidal” due to the online chatter started by Kebe, whom she described as an “evil person.”
Although Kebe filed for bankruptcy after losing the case, a judge later ruled that she couldn’t use her financial ruin to avoid paying the rapper.
