Rapper Files Weird Lawsuit Over Penis Story

A Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated rapper has filed a very confusing libel lawsuit having to do with penis-cutting and gossip outlets. See if you can keep up:

• Marques Andre Johnson performs as Andre Roxx (for our purposes, we'll refer to him as Roxx from here on out). He performed with a regional affiliate of the Wu-Tang Clan starting in 2012, Courthouse News Service reports.
• Andre Johnson performs as Christ Bearer in a different regional affiliate of Wu-Tang, as well as a group called Northstar (for our purposes, we'll refer to him as Johnson from here on out). In April 2014, he cut off his penis and jumped out a second-story window.

• According to the lawsuit filed by Roxx this week, when TMZ reported on Johnson's actions, the website incorrectly identified him as the other "Andre Johnson," AKA Roxx, going so far as to publish a picture of Roxx on its story as the supposed penis-cutter. The story was later corrected, but TMZ never issued a retraction, and other news outlets picked up TMZ's original, incorrect version, the lawsuit says.
• As a result, the Wu-Tang Clan apparently believed Roxx to be the person who had done the penis-cutting and put a picture of him on its blog along with a blog post saying, "This motherf---er ain't got s--- to do with the Wu-Tang brand!"
• Roxx says that, though the Wu-Tang Clan's Killah Priest later acknowledged Roxx wasn't the true subject of the story, he said he couldn't allow Roxx to perform with Wu-Tang-affiliated musicians since some members of the public still believed him to be the penis-cutter.
• Now Roxx is suing not just TMZ and its parent company but, according to the Hollywood Reporter, a number of other media outlets that picked up the story, blaming them for his loss of the Wu-Tang Clan's endorsement, as well as for the harassment he received in prison (where he was when the story broke) from other inmates over the story. He says his career is still suffering, and he has to wear sunglasses in public so as not to be mistaken as a rapper who cut off his penis.
• A portion of the suit: "Other than their affiliation with the Killa Beez and the Wu-Tang Clan, and the fact that they are both African American male musicians, there are and were key differences between Plaintiff and Christ Bearer. Their names, though containing the overlapping (and common) names 'Andre' and 'Johnson,' are not the same. Christ Bearer's given name is Andre Johnson; Plaintiff's is Marques Johnson. The two did not bear a physical resemblance at the time of the incident: Christ Bearer is at least 10 years older than Plaintiff, and Plaintiff's appearance is distinct due to his green eye color, which is unusual in African American men."

(More lawsuit stories.)