A court summons for Beyoncè Knowles-Carter has emerged from the New York Supreme Court. According to the document, Ms. Carter reneged on a deal with developer Gate Five to create a motion-based video game. The title was to be called Starpower: Beyoncè and would have tasked players with dancing to Knowles’ music.
In the suit, Gate Five is asking for over $100 million in damages because of Ms. Carter’s “bad faith breach of contract” which was “so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five’s business and drove 70 people into unemployment… the week before Christmas.” Greg Easley, founder of Gate Five, claims that all systems were go in early December. Then, Beyoncè informed them that “that’s it, I don’t want to hear from you guys, go away”. Harsh words, which we’re assuming are not directly quoted from the singer.
Nevertheless, if the allegations are to be believed, that statement sums up the situation nicely. The wife of rapper Jay-Z apparently made an eleventh-hour monetary demand that was so obscene, as to be described as “extortion”. Her tactic backfired and caused the project’s financier to back out. Beyoncè then supposedly washed her hands of the project in a move that would have been in breach of her contract. According to the summons, her actions were “so unscrupulous that her then manager (who is also her father) renounced them.” Mr. Knowles has since broken off from all business dealings involving his daughter.
Keep in mind that the case is ongoing. As such, none of these claims have yet to be proven truthful. If they are legitimate though, this was a damn lousy way to treat a business partner. The industry has suffered through enough layoffs over the past several years; senseless moves like this are the last thing it needs.
[Source: New York Magazine]
[Image courtesy of Top News.]
