Falling In Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke has followed through on his threats to file a defamation suit against noted music critic Anthony Fantano. The latter critic/social media influencer also operates under the banner of The Needle Drop, and has developed a dedicated following on TikTok (1.5 million subscribers), YouTube (1.84 million subscribers) and Instagram (1 million followers) with his sometimes divisive takes on new music, artists, and more.
Amid his various social media purges, Radke publicly stated his intentions on X and other social media platforms to file suit against Fantano over a video the latter created titled ‘This Guy Sucks‘. That nearly 8-minute clip was posted by Fantano to his YouTube channel back in August of 2023.
Radke had indicated that should Fantano not remove the video, he would be faced with a defamation lawsuit over it. Upon Fantano‘s refusal to pull the video, Radke would later go on to share updates on his progress with filing the suit, sometimes directing them towards Fantano on social media.
Now Rock Feed have obtained confirmation that said defamation suit was filed yesterday, August 20th in a Los Angeles, CA Superior Court. As Radke indicated on his past social media posts, he had taken issue with Fantano repeating past allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, transphobia, racism and more.
In the ‘This Guy Sucks’ video, which finds Fantano heavily criticizing Radke, Fantano somewhat ironically even claims that Radke has developed a reputation for suing those who have put forth allegations against him.
The video finds Fantano calling out Radke, not only for the quality of his musical ventures, but also for various past incidents Radke was involved in, as well as controversial statements the musician has made on social media. At one point the video even makes mention of a 2012 beef between I See Stars and Radke.
Fantano‘s ‘This Guy Sucks’ video wasn’t the first instance of tension spilling over on social media between the pair, as the two had engaged in some public beefing back in February of 2023. In March of 2023, shortly after that feud, Radke publicly addressed some of the darker chapters of his past, which includes a period of incarceration after pleading guilty to battery with substantial bodily harm in a fatal brawl, issuing this statement of sorts on the matter.
Tonight (August 21st) saw Rock Feed repost portions of Radke‘s suit, which at one point states of the ‘This Guy Sucks’ video:
“Fantano‘s nearly eight-minute verbal tirade regarding Radke——whom the defendant does not know and has never even met——goes beyond the bounds of permissible commentary and extends into the realm of actionable innuendo, unfounded rumormongering and outright untruth.”
The complaint further alleges that Fantano refused to pull the video upon repeated requests from Radke, leading to the filing of this suit. Also claimed in the complaint is that images of headlines, press excerpts, past social media beefs and allegations regarding Radke displayed during the video in question, when paired with Fantano‘s commentary, were misleading and defamatory.
Among the incidents cited is an allegation of Fantano equating an alleged physical assault as being a sexual assault. The complaint also notes that Fantano omitted the legal resolutions of said allegations that ended in Radke‘s favor.
The suit alleges in that doing so, “Fantano acted with malice aforethought and/or engaged in fraud, malice and/or oppression. Because Fantano published his statements with common law malice, Radke also seeks punitive damages in a total amount to be prove at trial.”
The complaint goes on to allege that, “Fantano knew at the time he made the defamatory statements that they were false, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of his statements.”
Initial proceedings in the court are expected to commence later this year, with a case management conference scheduled for December 18th. Commentary on the suit has since made its way to Radke‘s X account, after he posted Rock Feed‘s report on the matter. With the following exchange referencing the legal matter taking place:
