Arsenio Hall, well known not only as a comedian, but also as a dear friend of Prince, filed a lawsuit against Sinead O’Connor on Thursday seeking $5 million for defamation.
The move comes after O’Connor posted a message on Facebook accusing Hall of being Prince’s drug supplier for many years.
“Desperate, attention seeker Sinead O’Connor has maliciously published outlandish defamatory lies about comedian Arsenio Hall, falsely accusing him of supplying illegal ‘hard drugs’ ‘over the decades’ to the recently deceased music artist, Prince, and of spiking her with drugs once years ago,” the lawsuit states.
In her post, O’Connor wrote, “Two words for the DEA investigating where Prince got his drugs over the decades … Arsenio Hall. Anyone imagining prince was not a long-time hard drug user is living in cloud cuckoo land.”
She continued, “Arsenio I’ve reported you to the Carver County Sheriff’s office. Expect their call. They are aware you spiked me years ago at Eddie Murphy’s house. You best get tidying your man cave.” Originally posted on May 2, 2016, the post was deleted but eventually reported by many media outlets.
Although federal authorities are now involved in the death of Prince, the official autopsy results have yet to be revealed by the Medical Examiner’s office.
It was also reported that Dr. Howard Kornfeld, the medical director of Recovery Without Walls outpatient addiction clinic in California, was to meet with Prince regarding his addiction. Dr. Kornfeld’s son and colleague, Andrew Kornfeld, flew to Paisley Park as soon as possible and was one of the three people present when Prince’s body was found. Dr. Kornfeld made arrangements to fly out and meet Prince the next day, where Andrew Kornfeld ultimately made the 911 emergency call.