LOS ANGELES – Online personality Tasha K and a former personal assistant to Kevin Hart have reached a settlement with the comedian in his defamation suit against the pair that stemmed from an interview the aide had with Tasha K.
Hart’s attorney filed court papers on Friday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie notifying her of the accord involving Hart, Tasha K and ex-Hart personal aide Miesha Shakes. No terms were revealed and the court papers only stated that the parties are “working on the language of their settlement agreements.”
On Tuesday, Fujie vacated the scheduled April 7 trial.
Hart’s suit, originally filed in December 2023 and amended a month later, involved a social media conversation between Shakes and Tasha K, whose real name is Latasha Transrina Kebe.
In their court papers, the 45-year-old Hart’s attorneys maintained their client and his company, K. Hart Enterprises Inc., suffered “irreparable harm from the continued publication and broadcasting of the interview and related content, which includes defamatory statements, including false statements regarding Hart’s supposed criminal conduct, which are damaging to his reputation and thereby to his livelihood as a performer.”
Hart’s lawyers maintained the comedian and Shakes had a non-disclosure agreement and that Shakes breached the accord, although Shakes contended the contract took advantage of her mental state at the time. Hart’s attorneys also asserted that Shakes and Kebe sought money in order to keep quiet.
In a sworn declaration, Shakes maintained she was unaware of the NDA’s terms.
“At the time of signing the NDA, I was suffering from significant mental health issues and was under considerable financial distress due to my unemployment,” Shakes said. “Hart was fully aware of my ongoing health issues and critical need for health insurance and funds, as I could not afford health insurance or my prescribed medications.”
Shakes further said that when she signed the NDA she was unaware that it included a confidentiality clause because Hart told her it was a “mutual release” that would benefit the plaintiff and her family.
Hart’s attorneys also contended that Shakes and Kebe sought $250,000 in exchange for keeping quiet.
But Shakes contended she was not involved in an extortion plot against Hart and that her use of the word “charges” during the interview pertained to potential civil, not criminal allegations.
Kebe has a history of publishing and broadcasting defamatory content about public figures and was recently found liable for nearly $4 million in a defamation suit brought by Cardi B, according to Hart’s attorneys’ pleadings.
In a sworn declaration, Hart says Shakes admitted during the interview that she obtained some of the information she discussed by secretly listening through the walls to private conversations at Hart’s offices.
Hart denied Shakes’ assertion that he made a secret video recording of a romantic liaison he had with a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2017, and he additionally says she wrongfully divulged information about his interactions with his wife after the hotel encounter became public.
Hart was part of the halftime entertainment in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9.
