Busta Rhymes is being accused of weaponizing the authorized system to suppress his former assistant’s speech after a $6 million lawsuit alleged bodily assault and office misconduct.

In a brand new court docket submitting submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Dashiel Gables pushed again in opposition to the Hip-Hop icon’s defamation countersuit, calling it a “retaliatory Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP.

Gables claims the countersuit was filed to punish him for talking out and exercising his “constitutional right to petition for redress of grievances.”

Gables, who labored for Rhymes between July 2024 and January 2025, maintains that every one his public statements and authorized claims are correct and guarded by regulation.

“Truth is an absolute defense to defamation under state and federal law,” his authorized workforce wrote within the submitting.

The dispute stems from an incident on January 10, 2025, when Gables alleges Rhymes punched him within the face throughout an argument within the foyer of the rapper’s Brooklyn residence.

Gables claims he was later fired for reporting the incident to the police and has since suffered emotional misery, unpaid wages, {and professional} blacklisting.

Busta Rhymes turned himself in after felony expenses have been filed and was charged with third-degree assault. He has denied all allegations and responded with a defamation countersuit in October 2025.

His attorneys argue that Gables made false and damaging claims to the media and at a press convention, together with accusations that Rhymes spat on workers, made threats, and compelled one other assistant to unclog a rest room together with his naked arms.

Busta Rhymes’ authorized workforce is in search of damages and a retraction.

Gables argues that the countersuit just isn’t solely meritless but additionally an try to silence him via intimidation.

“The statements in Plaintiff’s Complaint are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” his attorneys said.

He additionally contends that his claims contain “matters of public interest,” reminiscent of office security and alleged violence by a public determine, which he believes ought to obtain “heightened constitutional protection.”

The former assistant is asking the court docket to dismiss Rhymes’ counterclaim totally, award him legal professional charges, and impose sanctions on the rapper for what he calls a “frivolous and retaliatory counterclaim.”

The court docket has not but dominated on the movement to dismiss the countersuit.

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