Famke Louise at the Amsterdam court, early March
Singer and influencer Famke Louise has won the lawsuit she filed against YouTube program gossip by Jan Roos and Dennis Schouten. They have to take an episode about an unreleased Famke Louise song offline and rectify statements about the artist, because they are “incorrect and unfounded”.
The case revolved around an unreleased diss track by Famke Louise, a song in which she argues against her former manager Ali B. and his wife. Based on the text, the gossipcreators suggested that there had been abuse and mistreatment of Famke Louise by Ali B. In the song, the sentences return, among other things: “Your man is really a dirty one and let them down” and “But I’m not going to say everything because I know your mother.”
‘s video gossip came online at the end of January, shortly after Ali B ANGRYdocumentary was accused of sexual abuse as a coach of the TV show The Voice of Holland† At that time there was already a report of rape against B. The gossipvideo was promoted stating that Famke Louise “was also abused” by B.
Famke Louise then decided to go to court. She stated that she wrote the song after breaking up with Ali B. and his wife’s management agency. Later on, things would have worked out between her and B. She also said that nothing ever happened between the two.
‘Unnecessarily hurtful’
The court rules that there is no basis for the claims of the gossipmakers and that they have acted unlawfully. “Famke Louise rightly demands the removal of these statements to protect her reputation, personal life and privacy,” the judge wrote in the verdict. Roos and Schouten are also blamed for calling Famke Louise a retarded woman in a later video. According to the judge, that was unnecessarily hurtful and hurtful.
In the verdict, the judge cites the plea of Famke Louises lawyer. “A secret diss track revealing and sucking up accusations that the public takes for granted, and then ridicule the victim and portray it as a retarded bitch. That must be illegal,” she had said. The judge calls that striking and rightly so.
Gossip makers Dennis Schouten (l) and Jan Roos at the court
The makers of gossip previously argued that they had not presented the statements about abuse as facts, but that they were only statements that shock and insult. The judge sees it differently and says that statements such as “That refers to abuse” and “So he hit her” can hardly be understood differently.
The case also involved a copyright infringement, because the song in question was never officially released. The gossipcreators said they had gotten the song from someone at radio station FunX and that it had already been distributed. The judge did not agree with that either; it has not been made plausible that the number had already been made public before gossip that did.
Comments
Famke Louise is happy with the verdict, she says in a comment on Instagram. “I hope Gossip will take responsibility from now on and do better research before making such bold statements.”
The gossipmakers say in a response that freedom of expression “has been hit again”. They see the fact that the judge has taken over part of the plea from Famke Louises lawyer as a sign of partiality. Followers are asked to donate money to pay for attorney fees.
