Miley Cyrus was hit with a $300 million copyright infringement lawsuit on Tuesday, March 13, after Jamaican songwriter Michael “Flourgon” May claimed the pop star’s hit “We Can’t Stop” closely resembles his song “We Run Things,” Reuters reports.
According to documents obtained by the news agency, May said “We Run Things” has been “a favorite for lovers of reggae music worldwide” since the dancehall tune hit No. 1 in his home country in 1988. He claimed in the suit that about 50 percent of “We Can’t Stop,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 2013, comes from him.
Cyrus, 25, is credited as one of the songwriters of “We Can’t Stop,” in addition to Mike “Mike Will Made It” Williams, Pierre “P-Nasty” Slaughter, Theron and Timothy Thomas (a.k.a. Rock City), Douglas “Doug E. Fresh” Davis and Ricky “Slick Rick” Walters.
According to Reuters, May accused Cyrus and her label RCA Records of misappropriating his song, specifically his lyric “We run things / Things no run we,” which the Hannah Montana alum sang as “We run things / Things don’t run we.” May also said in the lawsuit that Cyrus’ single “owes the basis of its chart-topping popularity … and its highly lucrative success to May’s protected, unique, creative and original content.”
In addition, the news agency reported that the Kingston, Jamaica, native is seeking a halt to further sales and performances of “We Can’t Stop.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Cyrus’ rep for comment.
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