Pop superstar Bad Bunny is facing a $40m (£33m) lawsuit from his ex-girlfriend, who alleges that he used a recording of her voice in two of his songs without permission. Carliz De La Cruz Hernández claims she recorded the phrase 'Bad Bunny baby' on her phone in 2015, before the singer's rise to fame and their subsequent split.
The line appears on Bad Bunny's 2017 single 'Pa Ti' and the 2022 track 'Dos Mil 16'. The lawsuit, filed in Puerto Rico earlier this month, states that the pair began a relationship in 2011 and both worked at a supermarket while Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Martínez Ocasio, pursued his music career.
According to the legal document, Ms De La Cruz recorded several versions of herself saying the catchphrase using a voice notes app in a friend's bathroom—the quietest room available—and sent them to Martínez. He initially used them in early Soundcloud tracks before releasing 'Pa Ti', which has amassed over 355 million views on YouTube and 235 million streams on Spotify.
Ms De La Cruz's lawyers claim that days before the release of Bad Bunny's most recent album, 'Un Verano Sin Ti', his representatives offered to buy the rights to the line for $2,000 (£1,600). She refused, yet the album, which was later nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys, still featured her recording. The track 'Dos Mil 16' has since garnered 60 million YouTube views and 280 million Spotify plays.
The lawsuit argues that the unauthorised use amounts to 'gross negligence, bad faith and, worse still, an attack on her privacy, morals and dignity'. Ms De La Cruz alleges that since the album's release, she has been subjected to harassment from fans on social media and in person, causing her to feel 'worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious' to the point of seeking psychological help.
The couple split in 2016 before briefly reconciling the following year. In addition to Bad Bunny, the lawsuit also targets his record label, Rimas Entertainment, and manager Noah Assad. The singer, who was Spotify's most-streamed artist for three consecutive years, has yet to publicly respond to the claims.
