Watch: See Aaliyah Back in 2001: E! News Rewind
Aaliyah‘s uncle Barry Hankerson is speaking out.
Months after the “Are You That Somebody?” singer’s longtime manager was sued by his son Jomo Hankerson for violating a settlement deal over music rights, Barry alleged that Jomo was partially to blame for her death in a 2001 plane crash.
Barry—the brother of the late singer’s mom Diane Hankerson Haughton—argued that his son “was compensated to accompany and coordinate the travel of his late cousin, Aaliyah, to a music video shoot taking place in the Bahamas” in 2001 but “failed in his responsibility,” according to his countersuit obtained by TMZ and Us Weekly Aug. 31.
He posited that the plane crash on Aug. 25, 2001—which ultimately killed all eight passengers and the pilot—may “have been avoided” if the music producer “followed through on his compensated task of travel coordination.”
Barry, 79, argued that he didn’t owe his son—who is seeking $1.2 million in damages in his April lawsuit against him and their co-founded label, Blackground Records—financial compensation because Jomo failed to arrange adequate travel, leading to Aaliyah and several members of her team booking the ill-fated charter.
The patriarch denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the lawsuit, arguing that the settlement at the center of their legal battle was invalid because it was executed under fraud.
After the 2001 crash, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the total weight of the two-engine aircraft—which nosedived in a marsh shortly after takeoff—on the flight from the Bahamas to Opa-Loka, Florida, “substantially exceeded” its maximum limit, according to the factual report published during the investigation. The doc also noted that the “commercial-rated pilot” was “not approved to act as a pilot-in-command in the accident.”
Barry’s filing was in response to Jomo’s lawsuit, in which he was accused of violating a deal with recording masters and music publishing rights for the music of Aaliyah and Barry’s other former clients Toni Braxton, DMX and Timbaland.
Ray Tamarra/Getty Images/Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Jomo—who also denied any wrongdoing in their legal battle—argued in the April docs that he is owed 12 percent of his dad’s earnings from the music assets under their deal.
The 56-year-old alleged that Barry used his Blackground Records label to hide his money and “manufacture expenses that have nothing to do with the music assets, all for the purpose of pressuring [him] into accepting less than what he is owed.”
E! News has reached out to Barry and Jomo’s attorneys for comment and has not yet heard back.
As the legal battle between the Hankersons continues, keep reading for a look back at Aaliyah’s life in photos.
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Jonathan Alcorn via ZUMA Wire
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