Kevin Hart is back in the legal spotlight, but this time he’s on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by his former friend, Jonathan “J.T.” Jackson.
Jackson, once embroiled in a high-profile extortion scandal involving Hart, is now accusing the Lift star of breaching a crucial settlement agreement.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges Kevin botched the wording of a public statement, which was meticulously negotiated in their 2021 settlement, resulting in a $12 million breach of contract claim.
J.T.’s complaint, spanning 23 pages, outlines how Kevin Hart was supposed to use specific language to publicly clear his name.
The settlement, reached in July 2021, was intended to repair Jackson’s tarnished reputation following allegations that he attempted to extort Hart over a sex tape scandal.
Jackson, a Navy veteran and professional bowler, was raided by investigators in 2018, resulting in severe reputational damage despite the eventual dropping of charges.
According to Jackson, Kevin Hart’s public statement was crucial for his exoneration.
The agreed-upon wording was meant to explicitly state J.T. Jackson’s innocence and dissociate him from the extortion plot.
The statement was also supposed to acknowledge the loss of a valuable friendship due to the scandal.
Instead, Kevin’s actual statement on Instagram deviated significantly, merely noting that J.T. had been found not guilty and that the charges were dropped.
Importantly, Kevin failed to declare J.T. had nothing to do with the extortion, a key aspect of the agreement.
Jackson alleges that Hart’s failure to adhere to the agreed verbiage has continued to harm his reputation and professional life.
The lawsuit accuses Hart, Hartbeat LLC, and other unnamed defendants of fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Jackson is seeking $12 million in damages, punitive damages, legal costs, and the removal of false statements from Hart’s Netflix docuseries, “Don’t F— This Up,” which implicated Jackson in the scandal.
The docuseries mentioned extortion and alleged that J.T. was involved in creating and disseminating a sex tape showing Kevin with a woman who was not his wife in a Las Vegas hotel room.
Both Jackson and Hart faced a $60 million lawsuit from model Montia Sabbag, the woman purportedly in the tape, but that lawsuit was ultimately dismissed, clearing Jackson of all allegations.
Kevin Hart’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment, but J.T. Jackson’s attorney, Daniel L. Reback, expressed confidence in their case, stating, “The facts in the complaint speak for themselves. We are confident that the lawsuit will end with Mr. Jackson’s complete victory and vindication.”
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