Tobias Johnson death: Mom Kenyetta Hardy sues Sony Music for allowing rapper, 17, overdose on their watch
HOUSTON, TEXAS: The mother of a deceased North Carolina rapper has filed a wrongful death suit against Sony Music alleging the company permitted her son to die of an overdose just four days after his 17th birthday. Tobias Johnson who became viral this year on TikTok with his song 'Ballin' was found unresponsive in a Houston hotel suite on November 6, 2020, by his manager, who was sharing the room with him, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Mother Kenyetta Hardy, who is suing Sony Music Entertainment and other labels Records Label, LLC and No Stress Entertainment LLC, alleged that she had raised concerns about her son Tobias Johnson born as SauxePaxk TB's well-being after seeing pictures of the rapper using drugs and appearing high on social media, stated the Friday, December 23 filing. Hardy even suggested her son “take a break and spend some time at home” and asked the label if he “needed any help,” but No Stress Entertainment assured the mother that they would keep him safe and away from drugs, the suit claims.
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Furthermore, pictures posted on the rapper's social media indicated that the record labels “had taken Tobias out to celebrate his 17th birthday,” reported New York Post. The images “show him under the influence of the illicit drugs later found during his autopsy,” the court papers stated, alongside screenshots of social media photos. The underage rapper was on a two-day drug binge that started in Atlanta, Georgia and continued in Houston, Texas on November 5, 2020, the court papers claimed. Johnson's death came from an overdose of opioids and other prescription drugs. While his manager at No Stress Entertainment was asleep in the same suite at the time, the suit alleges.
Just 12 hours before the rapper's ill-fated death, Johnson complained about severe pains around 11 pm, but nobody did anything, stated the suit. According to an autopsy report, Johnson had fentanyl, amphetamine, Xanax, oxycodone, and tramadol in his system, the lawsuit alleged, reported the source. For two days, the labels “gave Tobias access to illicit drugs, watched him consume those illicit drugs, and then watch those illicit drugs kill him,” the suit claims. Heartbroken Hardy claims the labels were bound to act as her son's chaperone under the terms of his contracts since she couldn't afford to accompany her son on his trip, the court papers say.
“Ms. Hardy trusted that defendants’ No Stress and Records / Sony’s goals were aligned with her own — that Tobias’s health, safety, and welfare was the top priority,” the court papers stated. “Ms. Hardy trusted that, if nothing else, defendants No Stress and Records / Sony had an interest in protecting their business asset. She must now live the rest of her days knowing her trust was misplaced." Hardy claims the companies treated him “as a commodity rather than as a human being”.