Over the weekend, it was reported that viral “Beat Box” rapper SpotemGottem was wanted by Dallas police for his alleged involvement in 2020 homicide. Detective Patty Belew told KDFW Fox News 4 about the nearly one-year-old case, and provided them with a video that she claimed featured the murder suspects. In that video, which appeared to be a snippet of SpotemGottem’s unreleased track “Again,” the 19-year-old Florida artist could be seen rapping phrases like “F*ck the law and all you b*tches/They don’t even know who did it.”
In the televised news segment, Det. Belew summed up the video by saying, “That is very bold. You know that is like stepping like ‘Hey we did this and the police don’t even know who did it and we’re going to get away with murdering this young man.” Several days later, SpotemGottem’s lawyer has gotten involved and reassured fans that the viral story is inaccurate.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
SpotemGottem’s attorney, Raven Liberty has put Det. Belew, the Dallas Police Department, and KDFW Fox 4 on blast for their irresponsible and “libelous” coverage in which they falsely claim that the Florida rapper is one of the suspects in the unsolved 2020 homicide. The Most Wanted artist’s lawyer argues that the whole situation stems from Det. Belew’s lack of due diligence, and as a result, Liberty plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of the rapper.
“The libelous statements made by Det. Belew originated from her misunderstanding about a YouTube ‘rap video’ (in fact, a livestream) that Det. Belew claimed was about the death of Reginald Agnew, Jr and taunted the Dallas Police Department,” Raven Liberty wrote in a statement given to Complex.
According to Complex, Det. Belew has echoed Raven Liberty’s claims and confirmed that SpotemGottem is no longer a person of interest in the 2020 homicide investigation. Despite this, KDFW Fox 4 has not retracted the video news coverage that prominently features the rising Florida artist. You can still watch the previously televised news report below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlnB8Q3lVyU
Read the full statement from SpotemGottem’s lawyer below:
Over the last five days, multiple attempts to contact the Dallas Police Department have been made in an effort to address the reckless, false statements made by Dallas Homicide Detective Patty Belew to Fox4News (KDFW) regarding the involvement of Nehemiah Harden a/k/a Spottemgottem in the death of Reginal Agnew, Jr. Finally, this morning, the Dallas Police Department made contact with my office confirming that Mr. Harden is cleared in the investigation of the murder of Reginal Agnew, Jr. The libelous statements made by Det. Belew originated from her misunderstanding about a YouTube “rap video” (in fact, a live stream) that Det. Belew claimed was about the death of Reginald Agnew, Jr and taunted the Dallas Police Department. Rather than conduct any investigation—a simple Google search would have clarified her error—Det. Belew rushed to speak to the press, openly disparaging my client and linking him to a homicide. Further, Fox4News failed to conduct any fact-checking prior to airing this malicious television interview that named Mr. Harden as a key figure in a murder investigation. To date, neither the Dallas Police Department or Fox4News have issued an apology or retracted the fraudulent and damaging story. This follows days of requests to correct this shocking recklessness as the story disparaging my client and linking him to a murder spread like wildfire. This story has now gone viral around the world with follow-on press reports in the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and India, in addition to millions of impressions made through social media. Given the irreparable harm to my client’s reputation, the foot-dragging in acknowledging their outright false statements, and the outright negligence by speaking authoritatively on a homicide investigation prior to conducting basic due diligence, I am in the process of filing a lawsuit.
Stay tuned for more developments in this story.
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