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Earlier this year, Busta Rhymes was arrested and charged with assault regarding an altercation with former assistant Dahsiel Gabels. Gables has since filed a lawsuit against his former employer, alleging “wage and hour violations, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” per The Guardian. Rhymes (real name Trevor Smith), who can currently be seen in the summer comedy The Naked Gun and was recently awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is refuting the claims made in the suit, going with that classic reverse accusation, “an attempted shake-down.”
Specifically, Rhymes said in a statement to The Guardian, “I have been made aware of the claims made by Dashiel Gables, and I completely and categorically deny these allegations. For a very brief period, Dashiel assisted me, but it did not work out. Apparently, Dashiel has decided to respond to being let go by manufacturing claims against me in an attempt to attack and damage my reputation. I look forward to proving these allegations false, and am preparing a countersuit, which I am confident will expose this for what it is—an attempted shake-down by a disgruntled former assistant. Ultimately, I am certain the truth will prevail.”
In Gables’ suit, he claims he was hired to assist Rhymes for $200 a day in 2024, at which time he was subjected to an intensely hostile work environment where he’d often work 18-hour days with no overtime. He asserts that in January 2025, he was arguing with Rhymes in the lobby of the rapper’s residence when his daughter called; Gables didn’t answer, but sent her a text message, and Rhymes reacted by screaming at him and punching him twice. Gables was hospitalized and filed a police report. “While plaintiff tolerated a great deal of abuse while working for Busta Rhymes, he could not tolerate the repeated physical assault and was unable to return to work,” the lawsuit reads. Gables also claims he was “frozen out of the hip-hop music industry” and faces “substantial future lost wage damages” as a result.
