DaBaby Facing Criminal Charge & Lawsuit Over Alleged 2020 Music Video Shoot Attack

DaBaby is facing both a criminal charge and a civil lawsuit over a 2020 incident in which he allegedly attacked a property manager during a music video shoot at a Los Angeles mansion, prompting the rapper to release a video in which the alleged victim appears to use a racial slur during the encounter.

DaBaby was charged with felony battery last year over the December 2020 incident, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Billboard; another man, Thankgod Awute, was charged with felony robbery. Both have pleaded not guilty. The charges were first reported by TMZ on Saturday (April 30).

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DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by the alleged victim Gary Pagar, who claims the rapper and his entourage “beat, punched, spat on, threatened, shoved, and robbed” him after he confronted them for breaking rental rules at his Hollywood Hills mansion.

A rep for DaBaby did not immediately return a request for comment from Billboard.

Hours after news of the charges broke, DaBaby released purported footage of the incident in which a man identified as Pagar appears to use the N-word. In his Saturday (April 30) tweet sharing the clip, the rapper accused Pagar of lying to law enforcement and the media “not knowing that he’s caught on camera.” An attorney for Pagar did not return a request for comment.

There’s little detail available on the criminal charges against DaBaby and Awute. Court records show they were first filed in September, and both men faced arraignments in April; they face a preliminary hearing on June 1.

But the civil lawsuit, filed in February in Los Angeles Superior Court, came with extensively detailed allegations. In the court document reviewed by Billboard, Pagar, 64, claims DaBaby and his associates rented the house for “a private vacation with no more than nine people,” and swore to him that there would be “no crowds, no parties, and no filming.”

“In fact, the purpose of defendants’ trip to Los Angeles was to gather 40 people and a commercial film crew at Mr. Pagar’s house to film a music video,” he wrote. “When Mr. Pagar asked them to stop, they beat and battered him, stole his phone by force so he couldn’t call the police, and threatened him. Then they vandalized his house and left, after stealing various valuable items.”

The lawsuit claimed DaBaby was not personally involved in the initial scuffle, but that he then allegedly stole Pagar’s phone, threatened him – “You better not call the police” – and then “sucker-punched” him.

DaBaby has not yet made a formal appearance in the case. The lawsuit is pending, with a preliminary hearing also set for June.

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