Miley Cyrus and Jamaican composer Michael May, aka Flourgon, have come to an agreement that brings an end to a $300 million 2013 lawsuit in which he accused her of ripping off one of his songs from 25 years earlier.
May had filed the suit in a federal court in New York in March 2018, saying that Cyrus’ 2013 song “We Can’t Stop” replicated a reggae song he wrote in 1988 called “We Run Things,” which became a No. 1 hit in Jamaica, and “was additionally met with great acclaim in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America.”
May’s song contains the phrase “We run things. Things no run we.” Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop,” meanwhile, contains the chorus hook “We run things. Things don’t run we.”
In documents filed in a Southern District of New York court on Dec. 20, the two parties — along with Theron Thomas, Timothy Thomas, Michael Thomas, Michael Len Williams II aka Mike Will Made It / Mike Will and Larry Rudolph – have agreed that “this action shall be discontinued with prejudice…with each party to bear its or his own costs and attorneys’ fees.”
“Discontinued with prejudice” is a final judgment that bars the plaintiff from bringing an action on the same claim.
“We Can’t Stop” — which is about partying and recreational drug use — was released by RCA Records in June 2013 as the lead single on Cyrus’ fourth studio album, Bangerz. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.