You never hear much about Rihanna’s father, Ronald Fenty. Rihanna is super-close to the women in her family, from her mom Monica to her sisters Kandy and Samantha to various cousins and relations. It’s believed that Rihanna barely has any contact with her dad, and she cut him out of her life years ago. Ronald Fenty was reportedly abusive towards Rihanna’s mom, so… old sins cast long shadows. But Ronald Fenty is still trying to profit off his daughter, because pieces of sh-t never change.
Rihanna‘s tumultuous relationship with her father has just taken a turn for the worse after the singer filed a lawsuit claiming her dad is exploiting her name to try and get rich. RiRi just filed the lawsuit, obtained by The Blast, against Ronald Fenty and a company called Fenty Entertainment. Rihanna claims her father, and another man named Moses Perkins, created an entertainment company and have been soliciting business acting as agents of the singer.
The star says she has nothing to do with Fenty Entertainment, and that “Although Mr. Fenty is Rihanna’s father, he does not have, and never has had, authority to act on Rihanna’s behalf.”
The “Umbrella” singer claims some of the erroneous bookings by her father includes a $15 million tour in Latin America and two concerts at Staples Center in Los Angeles and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for $400,000. In both cases, she claims to have nothing to do with the bookings. She also says Ronald claimed he ran the business offers by Rihanna’s actual label, Roc Nation, but the singer argues nobody from Roc Nation was ever made aware of anything Ronald was doing. In 2018, Ronald tried to trademark the phrase “Fenty” for a line of boutique hotels, but it was shot down by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
Rihanna claims she has sent many cease and desist letters to her father and his business partner, but they did not stop. She is now forced to file a lawsuit and wants an injunction against her father, as well as unspecified damages.
Rihanna has discussed her rocky relationship with her father in the past, claiming she witnessed Ronald abusing her mom when she was a child. She told Oprah that she once witnessed her mother suffer a broken nose at the hands of her father.
Somewhere, the White Markles are taking notes. Ugh, when we talk about abuse and abusive people, the focus is very rarely on financial abuse, but that is present in so many of these cases. Ronald Fenty is abusing his daughter financially and he clearly doesn’t care that he’s trying to ruin her business reputation. This is textbook fraud and it feels like this isn’t just a civil matter, it’s a criminal matter. He’s defrauding people and using Rihanna’s name to do it. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Ugh. Toxic parents. That sucks. With regard to the financial aspect of abuse, that is starting to get some attention. A Dem in a Texas has introduced a bill attempting to deal with one aspect of financial abuse: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/14/texas-bill-domestic-abuser-victims-financial-debt/
That’s my state senator!
I remember after the Chris Brown incident her dad basically said that what Chris Brown did was O.K. and no big deal. You know attempted murder is just a run of the mill lovers quarrel. Ugh and to say that publicly? Ugh. Not surprised.
Oh. No.
He said that bc he had abused Rihanna’s mom.
Ugh. Big nope
Yeah. He actually went so far as to say she should take him back.
What a slimeball. I guess grifters are always gonna grift.
I hope she wins but I see an issue since it’s his last name too.
But hasn’t she trademarked the name for her cosmetics line? If so, he can’t use the *exact* name (or one that can be too similar) in his business ventures.
Case in point: McDonald’s just lost a court case yesterday to an Irish company that already was using the term “Big Mac”. McD will have to change the name of the burger. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mcdonald-s-corp-trademark-supermacs/mcdonalds-loses-big-mac-trademark-case-to-irish-chain-supermacs-idUSKCN1P92JA
I’m thinking it’s more along the line that he’s misrepresenting to others in his “business opportunities” that he’s authorized to represent her or something (and maybe part of the suit includes smtg against her image rights, etc), rather than barring him from using the name Fenty (or maybe barring usage of Fenty is linked to the registered trademark). Good for her for doing something about it, he’s such a toxic family member… I hope she wins too! It’ll also send out a public message that will hopefully discourage third parties from even engaging w/e the shady father cuz they’ll know it’s a dead-end deal.
It’s not that he’s using the name ‘Fenty entertainment’-it’s that he’s using that name to fraudulently represent her and her business. Booking tours, concerts event etc.
Yeah that is super sketchy. He certainly can use his own name, but not to defraud places into thinking he’s booking her performances.
I hope the suit goes well for her, seems like she tried every other avenue to stop him.
I’ll never forget, many moons ago, when Ri’s dad said that he supported her career throughout, helped her blossom & told her when she was getting fat. What?! The?! F?! I cancelled him then & glad to she cut him out like a bad tumor. Anyone else remember that?
Yes! I remember the fat comment. It was repulsive.
I feel this. My father and I have a better relationship now, but growing up he would always hold money and other forms of financial support hostage (he has a cushy tech job) if my mother, sister and I didn’t do something he wanted us to do (even really tiny things that you wouldn’t think were a big deal). It got so bad that in college I CUT HIM OFF financially and emotionally. I stopped accepting money and gifts from him because there was always some kind of stipulation attached to it. But I learned to support myself and with my mom’s help and encouragement I worked my way through college (first as a nanny and then landed an office gig). It was a rough go for a while (especially because I live in NYC) but overall my relationship with money AND my father is much better now.
That’s good. My mom went through something similar and other crappy stuff with her parents-mostly her dad and her aunt-when she was younger. I didn’t even end up meeting my grandparents on her side until age 8.
When the news broke about Chris Brown abusing Rihanna I remember hearing about her dad abusing her mother, but didn’t realize he defended Chris or tried to convince her to go back to him. That’s sad. Looks like he hasn’t changed that much.
It’s always from inside the house. I feel for Rihanna, toxic relatives suck.
Just waiting for the people who think Meghan should reach out to her dad to tell Rihanna to do the same…
Such a low blow. And of course she has to file a lawsuit, it’s probably the only way to make sure SHE isn’t sued by the vendors. Toxic families who think they are owed for being family are some of the worst people.
Her dad is and has always been awful. I’m glad to hear she doesn’t have contact with him. I was worried they were still in contact after Chris Brown. His comments showed a complete lack of concern and love for his daughter.
On a superficial more, her makeup in these photos is amazing!
I can’t believe how many people on twitter and in comments on other sites are blaming her. They are saying it’s her fault because she hasn’t helped him out enough. She did try to help him. She has given him money before and she has paid for his rehab. It didn’t stick. How far should a daughter go to help a man who abused her mother and her? As far as I know, he also abused the children. She doesn’t owe him anything else. If she gives him money, she knows it’s going to be spent on alcohol and drugs.
What he is doing with that fake entertainment business is fraud. He is lying about being her agent and booking shows for her when he knows she won’t really show. If Rihanna knew about it and didn’t sue, she could be liable. He actually is putting her in a position where she was forced to sue her own father. That’s pretty messed up.