Drake is being sued over a beating at Rob Ford’s favourite nightclub

Drake is being sued over a beating at Rob Ford’s favourite nightclub

(Image: Drake/Instagram)

Drake is now the second Tononto-area music superstar to have recently been taken to court over an alleged assault in Toronto—the difference being that he, unlike Justin Bieber, isn’t the one who supposedly administered the beating. The story, according to the Globe, goes like this:

In August 2012, a man named Akiel Catwell was at Muzik Nightclub, a late-night venue at Exhibition Place, for an afterparty related to Drake’s annual OVOFest. After last call, Catwell claims he was walking outside with his girlfriend when he came across Waka Flocka Flame, the Atlanta-based rapper. Catwell’s girlfriend posed for a picture with Mr. Flame, and then, for reasons unclear, the rapper’s bodyguards beat Catwell into unconsciousness, breaking three of his teeth in the process. (The details of the beating haven’t been proven in court.)

Now, Catwell is suing not only Waka Flocka Flame, but also Drake, OVO Inc., and Muzik, for $4.8 million—a sum Drake’s lawyer has called “grossly excessive.” To be clear, Drake isn’t alleged to have been anywhere near the beating; his only connection to the incident is that the night’s entertainment happened to be related to his festival.

This is only the latest in a string of newsworthy happenings at Muzik over the past few months. The nightclub has become known as a favourite hangout of Rob Ford’s. (For those keeping track, that’s Bieber, Drake, and Ford in one article: the Toronto clickbait trifecta.) Also, its owner, Zlato Starkovski, was instrumental in persuading Exhibition Place’s board to ban electronic dance music events in city-owned buildings on the Ex grounds, leaving Muzik as the only sizeable EDM venue in the area.