Megan Thee Stallion has had to go head to head with her record label once again, this time over attempts to block the use of one of her biggest hits.
People reports that the Houston rapper has been granted a temporary restraining order against her label, 1501 Entertainment, and her distributor, 300 Entertainment after the court ruled there was “evidence that irreparable harm is imminent to [Megan]” if each entity continues to be permitted to prevent her from using her music to promote her career.
The judgment comes after the companies allegedly attempted to bloc the American Music Awards from using her chart-topping single “HER,” in promotional commercials for the upcoming awards show.
The hitmaker is nominated for the award of favorite female hip-hop artist at the American Music Awards, airing Sunday November 20. Legal documents acquired by People indicate that the awards show requested the single from Megan’s sophomore album, Traumazine, for use in promotion of the upcoming awards ceremony.
Megan Thee Stallion, real name Megan Pete, claims to have become privy to 1501’s block of the request just a week before the show’s scheduled air date. Her lawyers believe this move has the potential to negatively impact the artist’s ability to promote her work and court new fans.
“To be sure, there is no good reason I can think of as to why 1501 is behaving this way—and this is not the first time,” Megan’s attorney Ira Friedman wrote in a statement acquired by People. “I believe 1501 may simply [be] trying to object to the use of Pete’s music to be used in promotional content leading up to the AMAs because Pete and 1501 have been engaged in contentious litigation for over two and a half years, and 1501 simply wants to harm Pete’s image and career.”
The court order pinpoints 1501’s actions as unlawful and the request for a restraining order was granted without awaiting a response from the defendants, as the court ruled that with just four days left until the show airs live, “there was not enough time to give notice to Defendants, hold a hearing, and issue a restraining order before the irreparable injury, loss, or damage would occur.”
This is just the latest in a long line of legal clashes between the rapper and her label, whose contracts she has listed as “unconscionable” in court proceedings and who the artist has claimed has gone out of its way to block her from releasing and profiting from new music projects since trying to renegotiate terms.