Singer Bad Bunny is being sued by his ex-girlfriend for at least $40 million over a well-known voice recording she provided the singer before he became famous.
Carliz De La Cruz Hernandez, who was heard in the recording saying “Bad Bunny, baby” was included in two of the artist’s songs, claimed in a lawsuit filed this month in a Puerto Rico court that her voice and the phrase she came up with are being used without her permission.
The lawsuit was originally reported via a Puerto Rican news site which notes that the phrase was used in the song Pa Ti, which has more than 355 million views on Youtube and more than 235 million streams on Spotify. The audio recording was also used in the song Dos Mil 16, which has more than 60m views on Youtube and 280m Spotify streams.
As stated in the lawsuit, De La Cruz’s “distinguishable voice” also has been used without her consent for songs, records, promotions, worldwide concerts, on television, radio, social media, and music streaming platforms.
The lawsuit states, “Since then, thousands of people have commented directly on Carliz’s social media networks, as well as every time she goes to a public place, about the ‘Bad Bunny, baby.’ This has caused, and currently causes, that De La Cruz feels worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious.”
Also included in the lawsuit is Bad Bunny’s manager, Noah Kami Assad Byrne, whose real name is Benito Martinez Ocasio. Assad and representatives of Bad Bunny have yet to release a statement regarding this lawsuit.
The phrase “Bad Bunny, baby” was born back in 2015, when Martinez asked De La Cruz to record herself saying this phrase. She did record this in a bathroom one day while staying with a friend because that was where it was least noisy, and then sent it to him, as stated in the lawsuit.
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