Aaliyah‘s uncle Barry Hankerson is speaking out.
Months after the “Are You That Somebody?” singer’s longtime manager was sued by his son Jomo Hankerson for violating a settlement deal over music rights, Barry alleged that Jomo was partially to blame for her death in a 2001 plane crash.
Barry—the brother of the late singer’s mom Diane Hankerson Haughton—argued that his son “was compensated to accompany and coordinate the travel of his late cousin, Aaliyah, to a music video shoot taking place in the Bahamas” in 2001 but “failed in his responsibility,” according to his countersuit obtained by TMZ and Us Weekly Aug. 31.
He posited that the plane crash on Aug. 25, 2001—which ultimately killed all eight passengers and the pilot—may “have been avoided” if the music producer “followed through on his compensated task of travel coordination.”
Barry, 79, argued that he didn’t owe his son—who is seeking $1.2 million in damages in his April lawsuit against him and their co-founded label, Blackground Records—financial compensation because Jomo failed to arrange adequate travel, leading to Aaliyah and several members of her team booking the ill-fated charter.
