Lee Daniels pays Sean Penn's legal fees in $10 million defamation lawsuit
Lee Daniels has reportedly agreed to pay Sean Penn's legal fees in the midst of a $10 million defamation lawsuit against the 'Empire' director...
Last week, Lee Daniels tried to get a $10 million defamation lawsuit against him moved into federal court, but this week, it seems he has changed his tune, as his legal team has agreed to pay Sean Penn’s legal fees.
“Having considered the arguments and authorities raised in Penn’s October 22, 2015 pre-motion letter requesting a remand and having diligently met and conferred, Daniels has agreed to withdraw his Notice of Removal, and to have this matter remanded to the Supreme Court of the State of New York,” said Daniels’ lawyers in a letter filed in federal court.
“Further, the parties’ resolution includes Daniels’ payment of a confidential monetary amount to Penn consistent with the guiding principles” of the U.S. Code.
The amount paid was not given, but sources have told Deadline that Daniels agree to pay Penn’s legal fees.
Penn is suing Daniels for $10 million in a defamation lawsuit.
In a September interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Daniels defended his leading man Terrence Howard’s record of violence with women by saying, “Ain’t done nothing different than Marlon Brando or Sean Penn, and all of a sudden he’s some f—in’ demon. That’s a sign of the time, of race, of where we are in American right now.”
The response was meant to illustrate how black actors aren’t afforded the same pardons as their white counterparts. However, in his court filing, Penn called the statement “egregious on several levels.”
