Bad Bunny Sued for $16 Million Over Unauthorized Voice Recording

Bad Bunny has been sued over a voice recording sampled on “Solo de Mi” and “EoO”—companion songs featured on 2018’s X 100pre and last year’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos—Billboard reports.

The plaintiff, Tainaly Y. Serrano Rivera, claims producer Roberto Rosado solicited the recording from her when they were theater students at the Interamerican University of Arecibo. The lawsuit argues that Rivera, having never agreed to its commercial use or signed a contract, is entitled to $16 million in privacy violation and publicity rights, on the basis that Bad Bunny plays the sample in-concert and has used it to sell merchandise.

Rosado and Bad Bunny’s label Rimas are also named as defendants.

The lyric in question—“Mira, puñeta, no me quiten el perreo”—literally translates as “Damn, don’t take away my perreo!,” referring to the reggaeton subgenre. But, as Tatiana Lee Rodriguez writes in Pitchfork’s review of Debí Tirar Más Fotos, it is “more like the Boricua version of ‘Bitch, don’t kill my vibe!’” The lyric has become a meme, frequently appearing on social media and message boards.

This is not the first time Bad Bunny has been sued for sampled voice recordings. In 2023, his ex-girlfriend Carliz de la Cruz Hernández launched a legal battle & still ongoing over the alleged use of her voice without permission on two songs.