Kevin Hart is suing YouTuber Tasha K as well as a former assistant for extortion, according to documents filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges that the YouTube host, real name Latasha Kebe, alongside former assistant Miesha Shakes engaged in an interview — which went against the non-disclosure agreement Shakes signed with Hart — that made untrue allegations against him. The lawsuit says that Kebe then tried to shake him down for money to stop the interview from being released.
In documents obtained by TheWrap, Hart is suing Kebe, Shakes and those associated with them for civil extortion and invasion of privacy. He’s also suing Shakes for breach of contract and defamation and Kebe for intentional interference with contractual relations.
Hart’s Hartbeat Productions, LLC employed Shakes from August 2017 to October 2020 where, as the lawsuit lays out, she was privy to confidential information about Hart, his company and his personal life.
In November of 2023, Shakes sat down for an interview with Kebe for the latter’s YouTube series, “Unwine with Tasha K,” where Shakes disclosed information about an alleged affair Hart had engaged in, as well as claiming he had a gambling problem.
A preview of the interview was posted to the Instagram page for Tasha K and, according to the lawsuit, soon afterwards Hart was contacted by an individual “affiliated with Kebe” asking for what Hart calls a $250,000 “ransom” to delay posting the interview and prevent “damaging Hart’s reputation.”
Hart contacted the police and sent a cease and desist to Kebe. Alongside violating the NDA, the lawsuit alleges that the interview “included false and defamatory statements regarding Hart and certain legal disputes in which he had been involved.”
This is not the first time Kebe has been involved in a lawsuit of this type. In January of 2022, singer Cardi B. won a libel case against Kebe, with a federal jury awarding close to $4 million in damages and legal costs. The singer filed a lawsuit in 2019 against Kebe for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The rapper accused Kebe of posting more than 20 videos and social media comments that falsely claimed Cardi B had worked as a prostitute, used cocaine and contracted herpes.
Representatives for Hart and Kebe did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for further comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
