Kevin Hart does not take being blackmailed lightly.
The 44-year-old standup comedian and actor took legal action when controversial YouTuber, LaTasha Kebe – known more commonly as Tasha K – threatened to release a bombshell interview with his former assistant unless he paid her a six-figure “ransom.”
In a new lawsuit filed by Hart and obtained by Page Six Wednesday, Kebe supposedly cooked up a scheme with Hart’s former assistant, Miesha Shakes, as the two recorded an interview filled with, as Hart claimed, “false and defamatory statements.”
After recording the interview that would allegedly expose Hart and “be damaging to [his] reputation, an associate of Kebel allegedly contacted Hart’s team, demanding a hefty $250,000 ransom to keep the interview under wraps, even posting a teaser clip of the interview to show she meant business.
Per the lawsuit, “The teaser included a statement from Kebe at the 2:06 mark of the video specifically warning that ‘when you don’t pay, we have to get money by any means necessary.”
But the Jumanji star was unfazed by the ultimatum, taking straight to the legal playbook and getting police involved.
He fired off a cease and desist letter, highlighting that Shakes was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement and Confidentiality Agreement from her time working with Hart.
But despite the pushback from Hart, Kebe went ahead and dropped the full interview to her subscription-based website, where Shakes spilled the beans on Hart’s legal troubles, alleged gambling addiction, and accusations of habitual cheating.
Now, it’s a legal duel as Hart sues both women for extortion and invasion of privacy, with Shakes facing additional charges of breach of contract and defamation, while Kebe is in the hot seat for intentional interference with contractual relations.
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