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Music executive Larry Jackson is suing to identify the anonymous person or group of people he blames for a “coordinated, malicious and ongoing campaign” against him, his independent label Gamma and the label’s artists. The “reputation warfare” has begun, after an article portrayed him as one of the masterminds of Kanye West’s “risky comeback.”
In the 12-page lawsuit filed in New York and viewed by ROLLING STONE, Jackson states that shortly after a Bloomberg article was published on April 23, an unknown person launched the websites “larryjacksonexposed.com” and “gammaexposed.com.” These sites spread “false, misleading and defamatory statements” about Jackson and his company, including claims that he artificially inflated sales of “Bully” – the latest album by West, now known as Ye – “through bot-generated purchases.”
The websites also “falsely claimed that Mr. Jackson lied to his Gamma employees about a clause in his contract with Kanye West” that said the artist “would be dropped if he had a racist or anti-Semitic outburst,” the lawsuit says. According to the sites, employees “found out that [Jackson] “lied to them” when the contract “was uploaded to the company files.” Jackson denies this and says the claim accuses him of “dishonesty and deception in the leadership of Gamma” – wrongly.
Bots and bot networks
Jackson, an industry veteran who produced music for Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson before joining Interscope and later serving as global creative director at Apple Music, claims that the alleged attacker also used a coordinated network of bot accounts on X and Reddit to amplify the defamatory content. The effort was intended to make the “campaign appear organic, when in reality it was orchestrated by a single actor or a group of actors collectively,” the lawsuit says.
Jackson, who declined to comment for this article, says the alleged smear campaign has caused him significant harm. He said his company tried to investigate the websites but found they were part of a network that obscured the “true hosting origin server IP address.” Jackson says he needs the court’s help to identify the alleged authors, likely via subpoenas.
The new lawsuit is similar to one filed in 2022 by the band All Time Low to expose three anonymous people who alleged in social media posts that band members had sexually harassed or abused underage fans. The band eventually withdrew the lawsuit, saying their investigation proved that the rumors were “false and harmful online rumors.”
Parallels to other cases
Jackson’s allegations also echo allegations in the ongoing legal battle between Australian actress Rebel Wilson and producer Amanda Ghost. In that case, Ghost claimed that “defamation websites” targeting her were launched by the same crisis management firm that became embroiled in Blake Lively’s legal war with Justin Baldoni.
“Gamma and its artists are subjected to a new and insidious form of corporate interference and harassment unique to the age of social media and artificial intelligence, in which anonymous actors use bot networks to plant a false narrative in the public consciousness without any semblance of truth or accountability,” the lawsuit states. “Gamma has no choice but to defend itself – not only for itself, but for its investors, business partners, employees and artists – against those who would use technology as a weapon to destroy reputations and livelihoods behind a veil of anonymity.”
