Wu-Tang Affiliated Rapper’s TMZ Suit Over Penis Cutting Story Thrown Out

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed a libel lawsuit that rapper Marques Andre Johnson filed against TMZ last year, THR reports. Johnson, who performed with the Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated outfit Killa Beez under the name Andre Roxx, was falsely identified in a 2014 story as the rapper who cut off his own penis and then jumped from a second floor balcony. The rapper who harmed himself was actually Christ Bearer, whose real name is Andre Johnson. Marques Johnson’s suit also named Gannet Company, CBS Interactive, Viacom, iHeartMedia, and other outlets as co-defendants for spreading the story. The Delaware federal judge who threw the lawsuit out argued that it wasn’t filed in a timely manner.

While the lawsuit was filed in Delaware, defendants asked the judge to apply Pennsylvania’s one-year statute-of-limitations instead of Delaware’s two-year statute. In his opinion, Judge Leonard Stark wrote that Johnson failed to prove that his injury in Delaware “was different—in kind, or in magnitude—than the injury he suffered in other parts of the country.” Stark agreed with the defendants that Johnson was most injured in the Pennsylvania prison where he was being held. Johnson claimed that after the false news came out, he was “threatened, harassed, and attacked by the other inmates.” Citing Pennsylvania’s one-year statute, the judge ruled that Johnson’s complaint is time-barred.

Christ Bearer was one-half of Northstar, a duo who were signed to Wu-Tang’s label. Their 2004 album was produced by RZA. When asked about Christ Bearer cutting off his own penis, RZA responded, “The story—what he did—is incredible. That shit sound mythical.” The Wu-Tang Clan reportedly posted (and deleted) a statement disavowing any affiliation with Andre Roxx.

Read the judge’s full opinion via THR.

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