A judge on Friday tossed out part of a counterclaim filed by three songwriters who alleged Lizzo’s 2017 track “Truth Hurts” borrows from a demo they helped her create.
Lizzo went to court last year seeking a declaration that Justin and Jeremiah Raisen and Justin “Yves” Rothman had nothing to do with “Truth Hurts.” The Raisens took to Instagram last October to claim the song uses melody, lyrics and chords from a demo titled “Healthy” they and Rothman made with LIZZO, Jesse Saint John in April 2017.
“We’ve tried to sort this out quietly for the last two years, only asking for 5% [of songwriting royalties] each but were shutdown every time,” they wrote. “Coming forward publicly to family, friends, artists, and colleagues seems to be the only way at this point in relieving some of our emotional distress caused by this.”
Lizzo countered in a post of her own: “The men who now claim a piece of ‘Truth Hurts’ did not help me write any part of the song.”
In February, the Raisens and Rothman filed a counterclaim against Lizzo alleging similarities in the songs – both, for example, contain the line: “I just did a DNA test / Turns out I’m a 100 percent that b**ch.”
But, last week, Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled the plaintiffs have “not alleged any ownership interest in ‘Truth Hurts,’ which they claim is a derivative work of ‘Healthy.’” She left the door open for the three men to pursue a different claim – that “Truth Hurts” is the result of a continuous creative process that started with “Healthy.”
A lawyer for the plaintiffs told reporters: “We know the truth may hurt, but Lizzo will not be able to continue denying our clients’ substantial contributions to the Grammy winning song for much longer.”