Eothen “Egon” Alapatt fired back at a lawsuit brought against him by MF DOOM’s estate and widow in California. According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the former Stones Throw executive denied any wrongdoing regarding his possession of MF DOOM’s notebooks. Egon painted himself as the victim of “libelous attacks” in a legal response filed on November 14.
“Plaintiffs’ complaint is the continuation of a year-long smear campaign filled with baseless and libelous attacks on Alapatt’s integrity and character,” Egon’s legal team contended. “The complaint, like the previously highly public intimidation tactics used by this group, alleges that plaintiffs have concerns regarding the ownership of various notebooks of the luminary and now-deceased Hip-Hop artist MF DOOM. Contrary to the knowingly false statements contained in the complaint, Alapatt saved and preserved the notebooks after he purchased them from DOOM’s former landlord who owned and controlled the notebooks because DOOM had abandoned his studio and was in years’ long arrears on rent.”
Egon’s lawyers continued, “Rather than accept Alapatt’s generous offer to return the physical notebooks to plaintiffs if they agreed to protect the notebooks by jointly donating a digital copy of these precious artifacts of Hip-Hop history to the Cornell Hip-Hop Archive, the Smithsonian, or another accredited archive of their choosing, plaintiffs chose to continue their hurtful and defamatory attacks against Alapatt by filing this frivolous complaint.”
Last month, MF DOOM’s widow Jasmine Thompson sued Egon for allegedly stealing the late rapper’s notebooks and refusing to return them. She accused Egon of committing fraud, saying he “intentionally misrepresented” how he obtained the notebooks.
Egon asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice. He also wanted copyright registrations for the notebooks to be invalidated. Egon requested an award to cover attorneys’ fees and other costs.
MF DOOM passed away in 2020. He was 49.
