Janet Sued by "Stalker"

Janet Jackson has been sued for a second time by Eric Leon Christian, who is the man accused of stalking her in 1997. In November of that year, Jackson obtained a restraining order against him for allegedly harassing and assaulting her.

On Tuesday, the thirty-one-year-old Maryland man filed a new civil complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court against Jackson's company, Black Doll Inc., claiming that the 1997 restraining order she filed was a false claim. He maintains that, contrary to her allegations, he never met Jackson, let alone called her ninety times, assaulted her, made threats and harassed her.

"The news media publicized the case," explains the complaint. "The media, however, called Eric Christian a stalker, which was defamation and led to mental and emotional stress. Defamation and malicious prosecution was the result of the false claim."

Although Christian lost a $20 million defamation suit against Jackson last year, he is asking the singer to pay $20,000 for what he calls two false statements in her claim, as well as restitution in the amount of $20 million. He is also asking that his Los Angeles County criminal record of the restraining order be amended.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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