Lauryn Hill is being sued by her Fugees co-member Pras Michél for fraud and breach of contract.
Michél, who co-founded the Fugees, claims that the singer’s “arrogance” and “narcissistic tendencies” helped to sabotage their cancelled comeback tour.
In a lawsuit filed in New York and obtained by Variety, the complaint claims that the 2023 tour would have been “a huge commercial success” given advance sales but Hill controlled the tour budget which was “bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious expenses”. Hill is described as using it as a “veiled and devious” attempt to make money for herself, refusing an audit.
In November 2023, some of the dates had been postponed due to Hill’s “serious vocal strain” and then a 2024 tour was aborted due to “gross mismanagement”.
The lawsuit also claims that the Fugees had been offered $5m to play Coachella but Hill turned it down when she realised they would not be at the top of the bill.
“Hill’s arrogance was again demonstrated when she unilaterally rejected a $5m offer [to play Coachella],” it reads. “The reason was that her ego was bruised since the group No Doubt would be receiving top billing over The Fugees the night of their show. Hill never told Pras about the offer or that she had rejected it. Pras only learned about it when it was too late, after Hill, in an astonishing display of hubris, asked Pras if he would agree to perform a few Fugees songs for free as the opening act for her son, YG Marley, who was slated to perform at the same Coachella festival.”
Michél claims that Hill pitched the reunion as her solo tour had failed and she needed the other two members, also including Wyclef Jean, to increase ticket sales. The complaint claims she “realised that the only chance for her to perform at arena size venues and feed her insatiable ego would be to reunite”.
In August, Hill released a statement, blaming clickbait headlines for the scrapped dates. “Last year, I faced an injury that necessitated the rescheduling of some of my shows,” she said. “Regrettably, some media outlets’ penchant for sensationalism and clickbait headlines have seemingly created a narrative that has affected ticket sales for the North American portion of the tour. The trust and faith I have in my intentions and my commitment to my art seem to have been overshadowed by this unfortunate portrayal.”
Last year, Michél was found guilty of illegal lobbying in the US after channeling funds from a Malaysian financier to Barack Obama’s 2012 election campaign.
He accused Hill of “tarnishing the Fugees brand” due to her chronic lateness. She addressed fan pushback over her tardiness last year on stage: “You’re saying, ‘She’s late. She’s late a lot’. Yo, y’all lucky I make it on this … stage every night … God is the one who allows me to do it.”
This week, Hill allegedly showed up at 3am for a set in Nairobi after she was supposed to be perform at 8pm.
The Fugees released their second album The Score to great acclaim in 1996, earning them two Grammy awards and making them the first hip-hop group ever to be nominated for album of the year. It featured singles Ready or Not and Killing Me Softly and sold over 22m copies worldwide.
The Guardian has reached out to Hill’s representatives for comment.
