Jill Scott Is Being Sued Over Turning Her Lyrics Into Greeting Cards

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Jill Scott Sued By A Writer Over Allegedly Stealing His Idea

Jill Scott has gotten herself into some more trouble this weekend.

Mann Frisby, a former writer for the Daily News and Inquisitor, is suing the singer for allegedly stealing an idea he had to make greeting cards. Frisby is claiming that he and Scott were good friends, and that he pitched her the idea of using her song lyrics in greeting cards for Hallmark ten years ago. According to a lawsuit that he filed on Thursday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, the man says that they mutually agreed to a 50-50 profit split if he was able to secure a deal with the greeting card company.

And now, fast forward a decade, Scott announced at the beginning of last year that she was coming out with her own Hallmark greeting card line, which would feature lyrics from twenty of her songs. According to the Associated Press, Scott said that she got the idea from Maya Angelou, and she was following her footsteps by “create[ing] cards I felt represented things a sista would say.”

In August, eight months after the launch of the cards, Frisby discovered Scott “had concealed her actions” and had thus proceeded without him, according to his lawsuit. Frisby is claiming that Scott breached her oral agreement with him by “falsely stating” she was putting the deal on hold, and securing the Hallmark deal without telling him.

The writer is demanding 50 percent of Scott’s greeting-card profits along with more than $50,000 in damages.

What do y’all think: Does Scott’s former friend have any right to money Jill is getting from her own lyrics?