Metro Boomin, the Grammy-nominated producer who has worked with everyone from Drake to Future, has been found not liable in a sexual assault case, per Rolling Stone. A Los Angeles jury was quick in their deliberation on Thursday, reaching a verdict of not guilty on all four claims of rape and sexual battery alleged by Vanessa LeMaistre.
The producer, whose real name is Leland T. Wayne, was initially sued by LeMaistre in Oct. 2024. She claimed they were first introduced on a 2016 trip to Las Vegas, where she was given a shot of alcohol and ingested half a Xanax bar that she used to cope with anxiety after her son’s death. They bonded over their depression, as Wayne had recently broke up with his girlfriend.
She then alleged that she next awoke on a bed in a different location to Wayne sexually assaulting her, and that she drifted in and out of consciousness. Some weeks after the assault, she discovered she was pregnant and got an abortion.
A year later, Wayne released the song “Rap Saved Me” with 21 Savage and Migos’ Offset and Quavo featuring the lyrics “She took a Xanny, then she fainted” and “She drive me crazy, have my baby,” which the suit claimed was “recounting the situation that happened to LeMaistre.”
Opening arguments for the trial began on Tuesday, with LeMaistre’s attorneys quickly asking for a mistrial after the defense referenced her sexual history, something that requires permission from the judge in a sexual assault case.
Attorney Lawrence Hinkle II, a representative for Wayne, dismissed the accusations as “false” in a previous statement saying, “Mr. Wayne refused to pay her months ago, and he refuses to pay her now… Mr. Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails.”
From Variety US
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