T.I. is back in court, battling with toymaker MGA over their alleged use of the likeness of The OMG Girlz to create their ‘OMG’ doll collection. This ongoing legal dispute has been raging since 2021, with the latest development occurring months after a mistrial was declared in Tip and Tiny’s initial lawsuit against MGA. The toymaker claimed that cultural appropriation accusations had rendered the previous trial unfair, and a judge agreed.
Now, according to Billboard, T.I. has returned to court for a second trial following jury selection on Tuesday. Tiny, who formed the OMG Girlz in 2009, accused MGA of stealing the group’s likeness for its L.O.L. Surprise OMG Girls dolls. T.I. and Tiny claimed that MGA failed to secure a licensing agreement and refused to discuss compensation despite announcing its plan to launch a line of dolls modeled after the OMG Girlz in 2010.
In a statement, MGA expressed disappointment with the mistrial outcome but emphasized that diversity has always been a key value for the company. T.I. and Tiny aimed to demonstrate how each doll was based on a particular member of OMG Girlz, but the judge prohibited such testimony from the trial, ruling that allegations of “cultural appropriation” were irrelevant to the legal issues at hand.
However, jurors heard deposition testimony from a former MGA customer who claimed that the company “steals from African Americans and their ideas and profits off of it.” MGA’s lawyers immediately demanded a mistrial, arguing that such testimony was improper and emotionally charged. The OMG Girlz quartet included Tiny’s daughter Zonnique Pullins, Lil Wayne’s daughter Reginae Carter, and sisters, Bahja and Lourdes Rodriguez.
