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In 2015, Lee Daniels and Dame Dash settled a lawsuit over the $2 million Dame lent the budding director to make his first film, 2004’s The Woodsman, but it appears Dame is still not settled with never getting his money.
Today, the Roc-A-Fella Records Co-Founder posted a video showing him running up on Lee in what appears to be a church service telling him he needs his money and he’s willing to file another lawsuit to get it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkftOQ-gAUT/?utm_source=ig_embed
It’s clear from the video Dame isn’t playing about getting what he’s owed. It’s also obvious Lee wasn’t expecting to have to answer to Dame in person at that moment — perhaps never at all, as Dame made a strong case for calling Lee a culture vulture in his caption for the video.
“I straight up loaned this dude Lee Daniels @theoriginalbigdaddy 2 million to pay for his dream of being a director…,” dame wrote. “It was the money I was using to fund my movies and stay Indy…he promised I get my money back in months…then he makes precious and goes missing so he doesn’t have to pay me…then Butler…empire…same shit Why does this dude feel like he doesn’t have to pay me?…why do I have to look crazy to get my money back…or go to court…ask @theoriginalbigdaddy why he doesn’t feel like he has to pay me even though he has it…what type of shit is this.. #paywhatyouowe I’m going to put this whole thing on my ig tv in a few… true definition of a culture vulture @culturevultures_book …eats off the culture but Robs the culture at the same time… see you back in court Lee your gonna pay me what you owe…please everyone ask him way he doesn’t think he has to pay me… @tmz_tv @vanlathan@theshaderoom @deadline @worldstar@voguemagazine @people @pagesix@oprah @halleberry“
Google searches place Lee Daniels’ net worth anywhere between $5 and $20 million, most likely on the higher end of the scale considering he has two hit shows on Fox (Empire and Star). He also produced Monster’s Ball and directed Precious and The Butler.
When Dame loaned Lee money in 2014 he was also supposed to retain 50 percent of rights on The Woodsman. When both parties dropped the lawsuit in 2015, Dame’s attorney Natraj Bhushan told The Hollywood Reporter the agreement was a “creative, fair” settlement that “calls for them to work together in the not-so-distant future.” In other words, Dame didn’t get his money and he wants it now.
