Falling In Reverse vocalist Ronnie Radke has just issued the below video outlining how he lost his defamation lawsuit which he filed against music critic Anthony Fantano of The Needledrop fame. Back in 2024, Radke filed suit against Fantano after the latter released a controversial takedown video of Radke, This Guy Sucks‘.
In it, Fantano issued severe criticisms of Radke over his controversial past, and how Radke continues to conduct himself, along with critiques of Radke‘s music. In response to the video In response to the video, filed a defamation suit against Fantano in August of 2024. Radke‘s original complaint stated:
“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.”
Despite now losing his suit, Radke has instead pivoted to posting the below video, which he’s said he’s glad he was able to make in light of losing his suit. With the courts no longer involved, Radke also took the time to react and give his side in a reaction video for Fantano‘s above-mentioned ‘This Guy Sucks’ video, issuing numerous criticisms of Fantano himself.
Radke titled that newly uploaded video ‘I LOST MY LAWSUIT WITH ANTHONY FANTANO‘ and styled it partially in the form of a react vide, clapping back directly at various claims put forth against him by Fantano, including allegations of gang rape and more. Many of those claims Radke stated were been untrue or legally proven to be false.
At one point Radke went on to say [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“I went into this lawsuit suing you because of this video and all this stuff… I went into this lawsuit, and my lawyers like, ‘you’re not gonna win this.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t care.’ And it’s all for this, man. So Anthony, I know you’re watching this. I know you’re probably getting a lot of shit for being racist, or whatever they’re saying you are.
And I’m gonna tell you right now, I don’t think Anthony‘s racist. I don’t. I think Anthony Fantano said a bunch of weird, stupid shit, just like me. And I don’t think Anthony is a gang rapist. I don’t think Anthony is a domestic violence person. I don’t think Anthony is all those things. You know, what I do think Anthony is?
I think Anthony is a pretentious, insecure little baby that utilizes people for money so he can pay his rent in a negative way. That’s what I think. And that’s what his YouTube has become. It’s one of those things.”
Radke later went on to state:
“I just really wish that [Fantano] would retract what he said and apologize for implying all these things, but he won’t. Because that’s exactly what a narcissist actually would do. For me, people think that I’m insane, right? They think that’ I’m doing all this stuff, because I’m insecure, like responding to people online. Guys, it’s not that serious. I respond to people online because they say the same things that Anthony was implying that I’m a gang rapist or that I’m a bad person or, you know, sometimes ‘your music sucks.’ I’m just being funny.
The only way I can respond is to be funny to these people. The stuff that you don’t see me talk about, if I’m not responding, those are the things that are making me mad. This video really pissed me off because — and it pissed off a lot of people — It implies to the people that are watching this, the NPCs that follow Anthony Fantano and wait for him to give them their opinion on what they like, they’re not going to go do their research. They’re just going to go, ‘Wow, he really gang raped somebody.’ ‘Wow, he really is transphobic.’ ‘Wow, he is a racist.’
This is why I sued him, and this is the point that I’m making. I knew I was going to lose the lawsuit. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a defamation suit. The reason I did this is so I can put this out, so I can put something out and say my piece before Anthony does. Because you know, Anthony is going to put some video together so he can gain views to pay his rent.
I wanted to put this out and say my piece. So if you’re watching this and you’re not a fan and you hate my guts, I really hope that even if you’re not a fan, you can really understand where I’m coming from, because it’s really fucked up, and I don’t think anybody should ever do that. I would never make a video about how Anthony Fantano was racist, allegedly, you know what I mean I would never do that.”
Radke‘s suggestive mentions of accusations of racism being leveled against Fantano arrive in the wake of resurfaced audio of Fantano using a racial slur while quoting a rapper in a past video. Fantano himself set out roughly a week ago to apologize and take accountability for his actions, while also seeking to dispel various misconceptions thanks to deceptive editing and more. He addressed those claims in this video statement.
