'Humor, sarcasm and satire': Rapper T.I. testifies in civil infringement trial over dolls, OMG Girlz
'Humor, sarcasm and satire': Rapper T.I. testifies in civil infringement trial over dolls, OMG Girlz
The three-time Grammy winner, father of seven and convicted felon is at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana for a retrial in a $100 million intellectual property case.
Hip-hop mogul T.I. testified Wednesday that he’s learned to channel anger into positive energy “through counseling, meditation and therapy,” part of an effort to explain his dismissive demeanor during deposition in his $100 million lawsuit against the world’s largest toy company. (Update: MGA is the largest privately held toy company in North America, not the largest toy company in the world, according to CEO Isaac Larian’s testimony.)
Irritated with repeat questions from an MGA lawyer, “I responded with some levels of humor, sarcasm and satire. That’s my coping mechanism,” the Atlanta-based rapper said of his March 2022 video deposition. “I’ve learned to process my negative energy, my anger, my anxiety … through humor and and comedy and through the arts.”
Legal name Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., T.I. took the witness stand in a civil trial in Santa Ana, California, that pits him and his wife, singer and songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Harris, against toymaker MGA Entertainment of the Bratz doll empire.
He and Tiny are seeking $100 million from MGA’s profits for its L.O.L Surprise! O.M.G dolls, which they allege infringe the unique trade dress of the OMG Girlz. The group disbanded in 2015 and last performed in 2017, which T.I. and Tiny allege inspired 31 MGA dolls started releasing in 2019.
MGA’s lawyers say the OMG Girlz had no set trade dress and were instead trend followers who embraced the colorful hair and edgy wardrobes popularized by other celebrities. T.I.’s and Tiny’s lawyers have worked to establish the group’s popularity with young girls, particularly girls of color, while countering MGA’s argument that the group is obsolete. It’s the second trial in the case: The first ended in a mistrial in January after jurors heard deposition testimony about stealing from African Americans and the Black community that were supposed to be excluded from trial.
No questions about criminal history, profane lyrics
Testifying for about 80 minutes, T.I. wore a dark purple three-piece suit and remained even-keeled as he answered questions about his memories of the OMG Girlz and his reasons for suing MGA.
The trial before Senior U.S. District Judge James V. Selna is a far different setting than the 42-year-old’s previous experiences in federal court. The self proclaimed King of the South, whose artist name is a variation of his childhood nickname Tip, pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges in Atlanta in 2009 and served 11 months in prison.
Selna didn’t allow MGA’s lawyers to ask T.I. about his criminal convictions, deeming them irrelevant and highly prejudicial. The judge also wouldn’t allow questions about a now-closed Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office sexual assault investigation into he and Tiny.
VH1 cancelled the couple’s reality show T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle — a sequel to the earlier T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle — after the D.A’s office publicly announced the investigation, though no charges were filed.
MGA’s lawyer Jennifer Keller asked T.I. in cross examination if his show was cancelled “after some very negative publicity about you and your wife,” but Selna sustained an objection for violating a pre-trial ruling. Keller then asked if his show had been cancelled, and T.I. answered, “we decided to not move forward.”
Keller also asked about being “cut by Marvel Studios from having a role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” T.I. answered that he was in the first two Ant-Man movies, but, “The group that I performed or presented myself with — the Antourage — none of us were brought back in part three.” He said he didn’t know if it happened about the same time his show was canceled.
Keller didn’t ask T.I. about his profane lyrics.
In direct-examination, the rapper testified about receiving Georgia’s Outstanding Citizen Award For Community Service, telling jurors it’s important to help underserved communities because “if everyone does a little, nobody has to do a lot.”
He said his role in the OMG Girlz was “a supportive husband, a supportive father.”
“I did what I was told mostly,” he said.
Jurors saw a short clip from the show of T.I. and Zonnique together to support his testimony that he was nervous about performing with Taylor Swift.
“It’s about the audience and how they will receive T.I. with Taylor Swift, you know? … I don’t want to weird people out,” T.I. said on the show.
“No, it’s not weird. It’s good,” Zonnique replied.
Jurors then saw a photo of T.I. performing alongside Swift.
“It went well. Shockingly, I surprised myself. I didn’t mess up any words or say anything that would raise any eyebrows unnecessarily,” T.I. said on the stand.
Early in his testimony, the rapper named his seven children — Messiah, Zonnique, Domani, Dejah, King, Major and Heiress — then described his wife’s reaction when Zonnique said she was interested in singing.
A member of the popular 1990s R’n’B group Xscape whose songwriting credits include TLC’s “No Scrubs,” Tiny “really took an adamant responsibility to cultivate and curate the look the sound, the tone, the feel of the OMG Girlz.”
“I saw an inspiration in my wife that I don’t recall seeing prior to that,” T.I. said. “I recall watching my daughter find her voice.”
“When you have children, you watch them go through a series of different hobbies and interests, and some of them stick, and then others, they fade away,” T.I. continued. “But when they find that thing that actually wakes hem up in the morning. … When they find that thing that they think they can offer for the world, that’s special. That’s what the OMG Girlz was to Zonnique.”
He said the OMG Girlz were unique because “in the marketplace, there weren’t any other girls that age speaking to the young girls of the generation. Not from our community and not from within our culture.”
The rapper and entrepreneur also tried to put the jury in a talent executive’s shoes: “If we’re in this room and a group walks in, will the energy shift and the attention shift to those people? Will they have a lasting impression? And that’s what the OMG Girlz had.”
Asked if the group was successful, T.I. answered, “In my opinion, of course.”
“You have to quantify what the measure of success would be. There’s so many different levels to success,” he said. He said 12- and 13-year-olds speaking to their peers on a national level while traveling and relating to their fans is “a success within itself and they did that effortlessly.”
T.I. also said album sales aren’t a good way to measure their fandom.
“I’ve heard so many misconceptions about the interworking of the music business, and if I could just provide some clarity for the court,” he began. “Just to clarify, the music industry in 2009 experienced a paradigm shift, industry standards shifted from one end to another.”
”I’ll tell you how: The music industry went from a physical industry to a digital industry,” the rapper continued. “You quantify the success by how many streams they have versus how many records they sold.”
Zonnique’s interest in singing ‘worried me terribly.’
Keller objected for speculation when T.I.’s lawyer John Keville asked if fans associated the OMG Girlz’s look with their brand, but Judge Selna overruled and T.I. began, “No, there’s no speculation.” Girls would travel from great distances to see the OMG Girlz perform, he said, and they’d color their hair and dress as the girls.
“The world was in a place at the time where I think it was like the first generation of what people are now calling socialites,” T.I. said. “They had like this double-edged sword. They had their art and entertainment, but then socially they were also so engaging with their fans. It was just incredible. It was incredible to watch.”
He said the group has such enthusiastic fans that the reactions they receive can be described as “pandemonium. The good kind.”
"To be honest, they had more crowd reaction than I did. People weren't even making signs or doing that to me. That was quite impressive to me. I was quite overwhelmed by that,” said the rapper, who has 13 studio albums, three Grammy wins and 19 nominations.
Asked about his favorite OMG Girlz, T.I. said, “I can’t really pick just one…My memories go back to the origins.”
“I remember when Zonnique told her mom she wanted to sing, which, to be honest, worried me terribly. I never wanted any of my kids to be in the music industry,” T.I. said. The industry requires hard work and brings a lot of disappointment — “the highs are high and the lows are lower” — so “if you do this you have to have thick skin,” he said.
But T.I. said he saw Zonnique and her group mates Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack blossom through hard work and sacrifices, and he watched as they signed with Interscope Records, “confirming really what we already believed, that the OMG Girlz was an act that deserved national attention.”
He said the group’s primary audience is “girls from our community, young girls for our community who were in the ages of 9 and 15.”
“Our community being little Black girls, little girls of color,” T.I. continued. “Or should I just say hip-hop because that surpasses the color line.”
Asked about OMG Girlz fan pages on social media, T.I. said “That’s shocking and surprising to me because I don’t even have that many fan pages.”
“I don’t have that many people who are interested in following behind me and what i’ve got going on,” he said. “I do find it very impressive that they have the level of engagement that they've been able to maintain with their fans.”
Asked about the OMG Girlz’s future, T.I. said, “I’d have to ask my wife about that.”
“They try to keep me out of their business. They put me out of the room when they start talking about what they plan on doing,” he said.
Keville also tried to address MGA’s inference that T.I.’s Grand Hustle LLC is a nod to fraud by asking T.I. why is the word ‘hustle’ in both companies name
“Hustle for me means you have to work twice as hard to get half as far,” he said. “I don’t think Grand Tenacity would roll off the tongue as well.”
He also spoke at the seriousness of the case, estimating his legal fees so far at “well over $1 million.”
“You know how expensive you guys are,” he told Keville, who is the managing partner of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP’s new Houston, Texas office. “It’s a blessing from God for us to even be able to be in a position to have the resources to make it to this point,” He said he never expected to get to a jury trial.
‘I mirrored the energy I was receiving.’
Asked about MGA’s argument that the case is “a shakedown,” T.I. said, “I’m enjoying this entire process and seeing all of the attorneys work and their strengths. It’s a pleasure to watch. While i try my best not to take it personally, my personal opinion when they take that position, I feel it’s to evade accountability.”
That led to questions about the deposition clips Keller highlighted in her opening statement in which T.I. answered “I don’t know” in a sing-songy voice while dancing in his seat. The rapper said Wednesday he felt the lawyer questioning him last year via remote video was condescending him through a comment about “chicken and waffles.”
“That seemed a little stereotypical to me. I sensed some condescension, and I mirrored the energy I was receiving,” T.I. said. “When you play that little song and dance, that was really because I was irritated, and I didn’t want to come across as disrespectful. So I incorporated humor.”
Keller played more clips from the rapper’s deposition in cross-examination, including of him discussing the OMG Girlz’s evolving outfits and “waves of trends that they set.” She also corrected T.I. after he denied describing the girls’ hairstyles as whatever the dolls wore.
“I stand corrected,” T.I. said after Keller played a clip of him saying essentially that.
She also played a clip of him saying the girls’ hairstyles “fluctuated” and listing several possible colors.
“In fact, Mr. Harris, you think all those colors are protected as part of the trade dress?” Keller asked.
“Well, when you couple it with the name and style of wardrobe and you also couple it with the lifestyle of being performers, singers and dancers,” he answered.
Keller played another deposition clip of T.I. rapping:
“I think that all the girls collectively, they had a look. They had a style, and I think your clients stole it. Yeah, yeah I say your clients stole it. Oh huh. You’re trying to be tricky. You don’t want to pay, but you are deadass wrong and you gonna learn something today.”
Keller noted he was wearing a three-piece suit in court but chose to wear casual clothing in his deposition and at one point donned sunglasses.
Jurors also saw a clip of T.I. shouting “Nah, man, can’t it be over” when the attorney told him he had no more questions.
“You want some more?” the attorney asked.
“I’m having fun…I’m just getting warmed up, man,” T.I. replied.
“Sarcasm, Ms. Keller,” T.I. said from the witness stand when the clip ended.
“Yes. Sarcasm, refusal to answer questions,” Keller said before Selna told her to ask a question.
Keller also highlighted T.I.’s overall lack of knowledge about the OMG Girlz, from his ignorance of their tour schedule and stages names to his unawareness that the group eventually dropped the Girlz and simply went by OMG. She also highlighted the fact that he’s seeking $100 million from MGA, which T.I. tried to downplay by saying, “I didn’t ask for anything. I asked for justice.” But he added, “Just because it’s a lot of money don’t mean they don’t deserve it.”
T.I.’s witness stand appearance ended with Keller asking him about his testimony that MGA CEO Isaac Larian never contacted him after he and Tiny sent a demand letter regarding the dolls.
The letter stated Tiny had been approached by an MGA employee about modeling dolls off the group, which Larian said isn’t true. Tiny testified she can’t remember more details and isn’t positive the person was an MGA employee. Keller asked T.I. if he expected Larian to reach out to him after learning of the lie, but T.I.’s lawyer said she “completely misstated the testimony on that” and Selna sustained his objection.
The trial is expected to close next week. MGA doll designer Blanche Consorti is back on the witness stand Thursday. I’ll have a story on Monday about her testimony and the verdict form jurors will be sorting through. Here’s a preview:
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