Rap producer Metro Boomin accused of rape in lawsuit
The lawsuit alleges a reference to the incident appeared in a song by the producer, whose real name is Leland Wayne. Wayne denied the allegations through his attorney.By Frances Vinall
October 30, 2024 at 3:41 a.m. EDT
Rap producer Metro Boomin was accused of rape in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, with the complaint alleging that lyrics in a song he produced recount the incident.
Vanessa LeMaistre, 38, is seeking a jury trial and damages over what she says occurred at a recording studio in California in or around September 2016.
An attorney for Metro Boomin, whose real name is Leland Wayne, 31, called the lawsuit a “pure shakedown” consisting of false accusations and said Wayne would defend himself in court. “He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails,” Lawrence Hinkle II said in a statement.
LeMaistre says that she arrived at the studio and was given an alcoholic drink, according to court documents. The visit was not unusual after several months of what she believed was a friendship with the artist, the filing says.
She also consumed half a Xanax, an anxiety medication she had been taking since her 9-month-old son died that year of a rare disease, the lawsuit says.
While sitting on a couch listening to Wayne make music, she lost consciousness, the filing says. She awoke in a different location while Wayne was raping her, she alleges. He later told her it was a hotel in Beverly Hills, the lawsuit says.
The filing describes LeMaistre drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to move, while Wayne performed sex acts on her. Wayne put her in a car waiting outside afterward and she was driven back to her vehicle at the studio, she alleges.
Several weeks later, she learned she was pregnant and underwent an abortion, the lawsuit says, adding that she had not had sex during this time and the pregnancy could only have been a result of the alleged rape.
According to the filing, LeMaistre was shocked to later hear the lyrics in the 2017 song “Rap Saved Me,” by 21 Savage, Offset, Metro Boomin and Quavo, which include: “She took a Xanny, then she fainted. I’m from the gutter, ain’t no changing. From the gutter, rap saved me. She drive me crazy, have my baby.”
She believes the lyrics — which Wayne does not perform but which are contained in a song produced by him — recount what Wayne did to her, the filing says.
“The lyrics were horrifying for Ms. LeMaistre to hear over and over again,” the lawsuit says, adding that Wayne was someone she “truly believed to be her friend but turned out to be her worst nightmare.”
In an emailed statement, LeMaistre’s attorneys Michael J. Willemin and Monica Hincken said Wayne had a history of offensive lyrics and social media posts that are indicative of “his intentions to harm women,” and called for him to be held accountable.
Wayne was described in February as “rap’s most in-demand producer” by the Grammy Awards after he was nominated for Producer of the Year (which went to pop producer Jack Antonoff).
After making a name for himself in the Atlanta scene, he shot to stardom through collaborations with names such as Future, the Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar and Migos, as well as solo albums and the soundtrack to 2023’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
