Metro Boomin sued by woman claiming producer sexually assaulted, impregnated her
Grammy-nominated mega-producer Metro Boomin is being accused of rape in a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges the music producer, real name Leland Wayne, drugged and raped a woman in 2016, resulting in her pregnancy.
The woman, Vanessa LeMaistre, says she was at a studio session when she took half of a Xanax pill and the producer gave her a single shot of alcohol. She blacked out shortly after and woke up in a hotel to him raping her, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday and obtained Wednesday by Paste BN.
"A few weeks after the sexual assault, Ms. LeMaistre found out that she was pregnant," the suit says. "She had not had sex with anyone else, so Ms. LeMaistre knew that the pregnancy was the result of Wayne raping her."
Wayne's attorney, Lawrence Hinkle II, called LeMaistre's lawsuit a "pure shakedown" in a statement Wednesday.
"These are false accusations," Hinkle said. "Mr. Wayne refused to pay her months ago, and he refuses to pay her now. Mr. Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails."
LeMaistre's lawyers at New York-based law firm Wigdor LLP responded in a statement: "Making defamatory remarks is not going to help Metro Boomin's cause and we look forward to proving Ms. LeMaistre's claims in court and ultimately before a jury."
The producer was nominated for Grammys in 2023 for his work on Coldplay's album "Music Of The Spheres" and in 2024 for non-classical producer of the year and best rap album for "Heroes and Villains." He also produced the soundtrack to Marvel's 2023 animated film "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."
LeMaistre met Wayne on a trip to Las Vegas through a mutual friend, according to the lawsuit, and struck up a friendship with him after speaking openly about the grief of losing her son, who at 9 months old died of a rare disease.
Once back in Los Angeles, where LeMaistre lived, another mutual friend invited her to the recording studio with Wayne, the first of multiple studio sessions, the suit alleges. She "grew to feel safe and comfortable in Wayne's presence and thought of him as a friend," according to the suit. But Wayne's alleged codeine use and unpredictability "broke that illusion of safety," the suit says.
In the September 2016 incident, LeMaistre says she took the Xanax pill to "numb" her emotional pain. After she and the producer discussed "feeling mutually depressed," she went on to sit on a couch and watch him work. It was during this time that she drank the shot of alcohol and passed out.
She regained consciousness in a hotel room with Wayne on top of her with no ability to move or speak due to her incapacitation, the lawsuit claims. She says she passed out again, waking up a second time to Wayne performing oral sex on her. She woke up a third time several hours later, with Wayne soon entering and telling her to get her things, according to the lawsuit.
"Ms. LeMaistre, completely confused, overwhelmed and traumatized by the brief flashes of memory she had, was desperate to get out of the room," the lawsuit says. After gathering her things, Wayne led her to two black SUVs outside, where he entered one and she entered the other, taking her to her car back at the studio.
Upon learning of her pregnancy, LeMaistre had an abortion "given the recent loss of her son and the traumatic cause of her pregnancy," the suit says.
The suit also points to a 2017 song produced by Metro Boomin, "Rap Saved Me," with lyrics rapped by 21 Savage and Quavo that LeMaistre's lawyers say point to the alleged 2016 incident: "She took a Xanny, then she fainted / I'm from the gutter, ain't no changing / From the gutter, rap saved me / She drive me crazy, have my baby."
He has been a frequent collaborator with rappers Future, 21 Savage, Young Thug and Big Sean, and played a prominent role in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud. His joint album with Future featured the initial shot from Lamar to Drake on "Like That," and he released the "BBL Drizzy" beat, accusing Drake of undergoing a Brazilian butt lift procedure.
This story has been updated to include additional information and to add a video.