Comedian Kevin Hart is facing a $12 million lawsuit from his former friend Jonathan Jackson. The suit alleges that Hart breached a contract by posting a video on Instagram relating to his alleged extortion attempt involving a sex tape in which Jackson had a stake. In January 2017, Hart took to social media to apologize for an error in judgment that led to the extortion attempt. Jackson, the defendant friend in the case was later arrested on extortion charges but the case was eventually dropped. Jackson claims that the court case caused him substantial reputational harm.
The contract between the two was said to be “meticulously negotiated” and stipulated that Hart had to use “specific verbiage” that would have publicly exonerated Jackson. The agreement also reportedly required Hart to note that Jackson had been fully cleared of any involvement in an extortion plot. However, in his apology video, Hart allegedly breached the contract by framing the exoneration more as a conclusion to a chapter in his own life rather than a clear and unequivocal exoneration of Jackson.Â
Hart’s representatives have not yet commented on the lawsuit. Hart himself recently made headlines for telling critics of fellow comedian Dave Chappelle to simply not watch him if they don’t find his material funny or entertaining. He also disclosed that he “almost died” in a terrifying plane accident earlier this year, in which the exterior of the aircraft caught fire. Despite the episode, Hart revealed he was cool with where he was in life if he had died in the incident.
This event is not the first controversy Hart has encountered throughout his career. In 2019, he faced backlash when homophobic tweets from his past resurfaced online, leading him to step down from presenting the Academy Awards. Regardless of his controversies, his career is still thriving, having worked on many successful film projects such as ‘Jumanji: The Next Level,’ which grossed around $800 million worldwide
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