Memory Lane Trending: Arsenio Hall Sues Sinead O'Connor

By Ephrat Livni, Esq. on May 10, 2016 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Prince's recent death has created a weird media sensation. It's like the eighties all over again as forgotten stars reappear to reminisce about the dead and remind us of their existence. For example, last week singer Sinead O'Connor and comedian Arsenio Hall made headlines, likely for the first time in decades.

O'Connor accused Hall of being Prince's drug supplier in a Facebook post, reports ABC News, and he sued her for $5 million for defamation. It's a blast from the past, only most of the drama is happening online. Let's take a walk down memory lane.

Making It Clear

The singer's claims about the comedian are anything but amusing, but she has always had a dramatic and destructive streak. That is what made Sinead O'Connor's music great. In her offending post, she says Hall regularly supplied Prince with drugs and once spiked her drink.

She wrote as follows (including typos and expletives): "Two words for the DEA investigating where prince got his drugs over the decades.... Arsenio Hall (AKA Prince's and Eddie Murphy's b****). Anyone imagining prince was not a long time hard drug user is living in cloud cuckoo land. Arsenio I've reported you to the Carver County Sherrif'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."

Whether or not Hall did any tidying, he certainly got his attorneys working on a lawsuit against his accuser. The Hall legal team demanded $5 million for the defamatory comments, denying the claims (a critical element of a successful defamation suit is that what was said was published and untrue). "Desperate, attention-seeker Sinead O'Connor maliciously published outlandish defamatory lies about comedian Arsenio Hall, falsely accusing him of supplying illegal 'hard drugs' 'over the decades' to...Prince, and of spiking her with drugs once years ago."

Sinead O'Connor responded to Arsenio Hall's lawsuit with another Facebook post calling the action laughable. She seems anything but cowed, reiterating her dislike for Hall and writing, "I'm more amused than I've ever dreamed a person could be."

If that seems like a weird response to a lawsuit and a colleague's death, well, excuse her. She has started trending for the first time since social media was invented and maybe the renewed attention went to her still-shorn head.

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