logo
Fat Joe's Attorney Responds After Lawyer Tyrone Blackburn's Arrest For Assault On Process Server

Fat Joe's Attorney Responds After Lawyer Tyrone Blackburn's Arrest For Assault On Process Server

Yahoo26-06-2025
On Monday (June 23), Fat Joe's legal team confirmed that attorney Tyrone Blackburn — who is representing Terrance Dixon, Joe's ex-hypeman — was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.
The charge stems from an incident where Blackburn reportedly struck a process server with his vehicle while attempting to dodge being served with legal documents.
According to Joe's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, the moment unfolded as a process server approached Blackburn to deliver a lawsuit tied to an April 2025 filing. Rather than accept the papers, Blackburn allegedly tried to flee the scene, hitting the server with his car in the process. Although he was ultimately served, Blackburn's decision to resort to physical evasion has now landed him in cuffs.
In the suit filed earlier this year by Joe, it names both Blackburn and Dixon, accusing them of extortion, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. At the heart of the claim is a demand letter sent to Joe in March, in which Blackburn and Dixon alleged that Dixon had served as a 'ghostwriter and uncredited vocalist' on several of Fat Joe's songs and asked for payment.
The 'Lean Back' rapper's legal team dismissed the demands as fraudulent, but received a second complaint threatening a lawsuit packed with what Fat Joe's lawyers called 'false and outrageous allegations,' including claims of statutory rape, sex trafficking, and fraud. Once a warrant was issued for Blackburn's arrest, the lawyer and Dixon filed a retaliatory lawsuit against the rapper, a move Joe's team says was just another calculated effort to smear his name.
Tacopina spoke with VIBE about the recent arrest, stating that the news came as no surprise.
'Our team's reaction is that it's not a surprise at all,' Tacopina said. 'Normally, a lawyer getting arrested would be sort of shocking. Here, it's not shocking at all, because it's just the latest example of his conduct. His malicious, manipulative conduct — or misconduct — that's what I'll call it … he's an embarrassment to the legal community, he really is.'
Tacopina referenced past disciplinary concerns raised by federal judges, citing patterns of behavior he believes demonstrate a bad legal strategy. 'Two federal judges have recently excoriated him. The way he'll file a suit almost just to embarrass someone, to get publicity for himself, to get money, and then the suit falls flat on its face.'
According to Tacopina, the conduct surrounding the case further calls Blackburn's credibility into question. 'Unfortunately for him, he's run to the wrong defendant and wrong defense team, because we're not going to puss around, the truth will come out here and he's going to wind up in a very difficult position.'
In terms of potential courtroom impact, Tacopina believes Blackburn's legal history may play a role. 'I think the judge will have taken into consideration all the conduct of the lawyers before the court, because that's just part of the credibility of any advocate,' he said. 'If a federal judge wrote about me, what she wrote about him, I would quit law. I'd go make espressos at Starbucks or something. I would die. But, he's just oblivious to this stuff.' Tacopina pointed to the arrest as further reflection of Blackburn's character.
Despite the accusations and media attention, Tacopina said the Terror Squad boss is in good spirits and focused on moving forward. 'Joe's a great guy, I've known him for a long time. As we say, tough times don't last, tough people do,' he said. 'This is not fun for anyone to go through, even if it's completely false, which it is. But, he still has to go through it.' He added, 'I spoke to him today, he was very positive, he has got a good outlook. But this is something now he has to deal with, false allegations from someone who has zero credibility and does things just to garner publicity for himself.'
As for the case itself, Tacopina firmly believes there is no legal risk to his client. 'He's not going to be found liable. There's no scenario where Joe would be found liable in this case. An allegation is just an allegation, especially a civil allegation,' he continued. 'This is just some guy making a claim to get money. But yet that being said, it's still very difficult for him, because he's got all these deals with different companies, and he's the face of different things.'
Tacopina concluded by casting doubt on the defendants' ability to cover any potential financial fallout, as well. 'There are damages that are piling up, and I don't know where Tyrone Blackburn, and Mr. Dixon are going to get the money to pay Joe back, because I'm sure together they don't have enough to cover any of the damages.'
The arrest is also not Blackburn's first. In April 2024, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York referred him to the grievance committee for allegedly filing cases in federal court not to seek justice, but to bring media attention and pressure settlements with sensational claims.
Just a month before Joe's initial lawsuit, Judge J. Paul Oetken also took issue with Blackburn's behavior, citing 'inaccurate statements of law' and 'irrelevant insults, misstatements, and exaggerations' in his legal filings.
More from VIBE.com
Fat Joe Sued For $20M By Ex-Hypeman Alleging Sex Acts With Minors, Psychological Coercion, And More
Fat Joe, Jadakiss, REFORM Alliance, And Sei Less Host Father's Day Lunch For Families Impacted By Criminal Justice System
Former NBA Star Shawn Kemp Pleads Guilty To Assault Charge For 2023 Shooting
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump Reveals the Cringe Nickname He Calls Melania
Trump Reveals the Cringe Nickname He Calls Melania

Yahoo

time13 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump Reveals the Cringe Nickname He Calls Melania

President Donald Trump has revealed his pet name for wife Melania, which he even uses in the bedroom. Speaking in Iowa on Thursday as part of his Salute to America event, Trump went off-script when referencing conversations with his wife. As Trump bounced around topics from ethanol to UFC, he raised talking about issues with the American military with his wife, stating, 'I remember saying to our great First Lady...' Trump stopped himself and clarified, 'I call her 'First Lady,' isn't it terrible?' He continued, 'I'm saying `Good night, First Lady, my darling,' because it reminds me that I'm president, that's why. I said 'First Lady, it's terrible nobody wants to join our military force.' Trump's lament is notable, given that he avoided the Vietnam War draft by claiming 'bone spurs.' Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, testified before the House Oversight Committee in 2019 that Trump admitted to lying about the injury, reportedly telling Cohen: 'You think I'm stupid? I wasn't going to Vietnam.' While her husband was in Des Moines, Melania was meeting patients at the Children's National Hospital in Washington. The First Lady talked to the kids about their plans for Independence Day. 'It's a very special day,' she said. 'So we will have a big party at the White House… When you feel better, maybe next year, you come over and we'll celebrate together.' When one child praised Taylor Swift, Melania agreed that the superstar was 'very talented.' This is not an opinion shared by her husband, who posted in May, 'Has anyone noticed that, since I said 'I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,' she's no longer 'HOT?'' The First Lady also outed herself as a Sabrina Carpenter fan, telling one patient: 'She's great, too.' (The president has yet to make his feelings on the 'Espresso' singer known, but she did tell fans in Seattle 'Sorry about our country' two days after the 2024 election.)

How Nathan's Famous turned competitive eating into a national spectacle
How Nathan's Famous turned competitive eating into a national spectacle

Yahoo

time13 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

How Nathan's Famous turned competitive eating into a national spectacle

A plate full of hot dogs is seen during the 2022 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2022 in New York City. -Every Fourth of July, starting when she was 15, Jacqueline Lewis and her family come together to honor a great American tradition: the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition. 'I think people want to know how many hot dogs a human can eat in that amount of time.' Lewis, now 26, told CNN on a warm June day last year while eating miniature corn dogs (at a leisurely pace) outside of the original Nathan's location in Coney Island. 'I think they want to know.' Advertisement Lewis and her family aren't the only ones who want to see how many franks competitors can scarf down in 10 minutes. Each year, close to two million people watch Nathan's hot dog eating contest on ESPN, according to the frankfurter brand. Tens of thousands of spectators come out to Brooklyn's Coney Island to watch the event in person. Competitors train for months in advance, preparing their bodies to consume thousands of calories in just a few minutes. And the big headline this year: champion eater Joey Chestnut will return to the contest after being barred from competing last year over his deal with Impossible Foods — a plant-based meat company. Chestnut has won the 'Mustard Yellow Belt' 16 times, and once ate a world record 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021. Nathan's, and the marketing visionaries behind the annual event, helped shape competitive eating as we know it today — a bombastic, showy sport that some say symbolizes America's obsession with excess. But eating contests date back. Way back. Advertisement Two men, many ginger cakes It seems like people have always had a fascination with how much someone can eat and how quickly. 'Speed and volume competitions pop up in Greek myth, in the Eddas of Norse myth, and even in what may be mankind's first novel, Apuleius' 'Golden Ass,' written in the second century A.D.,' wrote Jason Fagone in his book 'Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream.' In the United States, the tradition goes back a few hundred years. Fagone cites a 1793 Pennsylvania newspaper that described an event in which two men 'undertook to eat twenty-four ginger cakes each.' Advertisement Over time, pie eating contests became a regular part of Fourth of July celebrations as well as 'a natural icebreaker for picnics, summer camps, and county fairs,' Fagone wrote. Boys participating in a pie eating contest at the 4-H Club fair in Cimarron, Kansas. August 1939. - Corbis/Getty Images In the 19th century, there were basically two kinds of contests, explained Adrienne Bitar, a lecturer in American studies at Cornell University and the author of 'Diet and the Disease of Civilization.' There was speed eating — who could eat the most in a set amount of time — and untimed competitions, where the winner was the person who could eat the most, full stop. The foods back then were simpler, and unbranded. People competed over onions, eggs, watermelon and pies. The contests were 'very lighthearted,' she said, and not nearly as physically taxing as they are today — they were 'athletic like a three legged race is athletic.' Advertisement When Nathan's starting putting on its annual event in the 1970s, it looked more like those early contests. At the time, PR mavens Max Rosey and Mortimer Matz thought a hot dog eating competition would drum up some publicity for Nathan's. (They also seem to have made up the legend that the first Nathan's contest was held in 1916). Back then, 'there was still kind of like a local flavor to it … the competitors were mostly just big guys from Long Island,' Fagone told CNN. Contestants would enter, rapidly eat some hot dogs and go back home to their own barbecues, he said. Melody Andorfer was the winner of the first official Nathan's contest in 1972, according to the Coney Island History Project. She ate 12 hot dogs in 5 minutes — beating all other competitors, men and women, she told the non-profit in an interview in 2020. That first year, Nathan's used barrels and a plank of wood to make the competitors table, she recalled. 'They put a white plastic tablecloth there. In front of you, they put on a paper plate hot dogs and no mustard, nothing to drink. Just the hot dogs.' Advertisement A couple of decades later, in the 1990s, brothers George and Richard Shea took over marketing for Nathan's. George Shea, who still hosts the competition, helped turn the homespun event into a gigantic spectacle. Hot dog publicity Americans say the annual competition is about many things: Coney Island, the Fourth of July, patriotism — but the event that kicked off the rise of mainstream competitive eating in the United States is, at its core, about publicity, the man who runs the contest said. 'It is a sport that did not start as a sport. It was a platform for exposure for Nathan's and certainly many other brands in the years that followed,' said George Shea, who co-founded Major League Eating, the professional league that now oversees the competition. Advertisement Shea took over the contest in 1991 when Rosey died. Before Shea stepped in, he said, the contests included a couple of cameras, a handful of competitors and '15 or 20 onlookers who just happened to be passersby and stopped.' George Shea attends 2015 Nathan's Famous 4th Of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on July 4, 2015 in New York City. - Henry S. Dziekan III/FilmMagic/FilmMagic/Getty Images As host, Shea cultivated a persona designed to hype the event. He stands on stage in a flat-top straw hat and a suit and tie. Leading up to the contest, he makes grand proclamations about life and poetry as dramatic music plays. When announcing competitors, he builds up anticipation, treating the event more like a boxing match than a hot dog eating contest. The act is 'a little bit of Coney Island, it's a little bit of sports reporter, it's a little bit of apocalyptic preacher,' Shea said. 'The whole thing is just fantastic. You get up there, there are no rules, you say and do whatever you want and it's all about getting in motion, expressing the emotion … and universally the reaction I get from people is just 'this is not what I expected and I really love it.'' Advertisement It took a while to bring that performance to the mainstream. About a decade into his tenure as leader of the competition, Shea pitched a story to the LA Times. The ensuing article introduced the idea to a new part of the country, he said. After that, Shea signed deals for a documentary and TV special — just as superstar Takeru Kobayashi came onto the scene in 2001 and 'blew it open,' Shea said. 'It was coincidental and very mutually beneficial. The timing was very good because he had enormous star power,' Shea said. The first year he participated in the contest, Kobayashi ate 50 hot dogs — nearly double the 2000 winner. Twenty-three year-old Takeru Kobayashi of Japan raises his hands in victory July 4, 2001 at the 86th annual Nathan's Famous International 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. Kobayashi, who was the odds on favorite, broke the world record of 25 and 1/8 set by fellow countryman Kazutoyo Arai by eating 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. -Kobayashi showed 'that you could treat (the contest) as an athletic activity and excel,' Fagone said. The Japanese newcomer had taken the pursuit seriously, training and coming up with a novel way to approach the contest (separate hot dogs from buns and snap the frankfurters in half before eating). Advertisement The intensity of the training, and the achievement, lent legitimacy to the whole endeavor. A few years later, ESPN started broadcasting the event. An American tradition, for better or worse For some, competitive eating is a symbol of American culture — the good and the bad. Eating contests are 'a celebration of excess,' Bitar said, part and parcel of the myth of America that attracted immigrants when the country was still young. They represent 'this larger fantasy, this national American fairy tale about consuming without consequence.' Kobayashi himself has pierced that fantasy, revealing in a Netflix documentary show called 'Hack Your Health' that he no longer feels hunger and that he's worried competitive eating may have lasting ramifications for his health. Advertisement Nevertheless, he did face off with Chestnut on Labor Day last year in a Netflix special called 'Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.' Similar to Chestnut, Kobayashi was banned from competing in the Nathan's competition due to a contract dispute in 2010. The contests have staying power in part because of their shock value, Bitar said. Competitive eating 'breaks all sorts of etiquette and social norms,' she said. 'It's one of these moments where all of our rules are broken.' Shea also pointed to an underlying tension as a reason that Americans still watch the Nathan's hot dog eating contest after all these years. He described it as the 'element of 'wait you're not supposed to do that' and 'I can't believe he's doing that or she's doing that.'' Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs during the 2022 Nathans Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2022 at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. -But he sees the contest as a special event, one that symbolizes something else: happiness. Advertisement 'It goes to New York City history … but more important, hot dogs represent to me the joy of summer.' Beatrice Fellman, 25, agrees. The Coney Island visitor, who described the hot dog as 'America's meal' on that warm day in June last year, said it stands for 'patriotism and a good time.' Fellman was one of many on a crowded boardwalk, flooded with hundreds of beachgoers trying to soak up the sun, carrying towels and beach chairs. The mood was celebratory. Bass bumped from speakers and a live band played to about a dozen people dancing. Despite the heat, there were lines at both Nathan's locations, where people waited for the famous hot dogs and crinkle-cut french fries. 'We love the Nathan's hot dog eating competition because we love how it brings the city together,' Fellman said, standing with a group of her friends, all wearing Nathan's hot dog eating contest T-shirts. 'It celebrates a beautiful American comfort food that is the hot dog.' Advertisement This article has been updated with new information that Joey Chestnut will return to the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2025. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store