Arsenio Hall suing Sinead O'Connor for $5 million over claims he gave Prince illegal drugs

On Thursday, entertainer Arsenio Hall filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against singer Sinead O'Connor for saying he gave drugs to Prince before his death.

On May 2, O'Connor wrote on her Facebook page that Prince was a "long time hard drug user," The Associated Press reports, adding, "Two words for the DEA investigating where Prince got his drugs over the decades... Arsenio Hall." She also wrote that she reported Hall to the Carver County Sheriff's Office, and they are "aware you spiked me years ago at Eddie Murphy's house."

The suit, filed in Los Angeles, calls O'Connor's claims "despicable, fabricated lies" and says O'Connor is "now known perhaps as much for her bizarre, unhinged internet rants as for her music." It states that Hall has not seen O'Connor in 25 years, and even then he had "minimal contact" with her. In his suit, Hall also denies ever giving Prince illegal drugs or spiking O'Connor with any substance, and says O'Connor only met Prince a handful of times and "detested" him.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.