Three words may cost Bad Bunny millions of dollars.
“Bad Bunny, baby” is the phrase at the center of a lawsuit filed by Carliz de la Cruz Hernández, the ex-girlfriend of the global superstar.
She claims she sent the singer a voice memo with that recording back in 2015, before he became a global sensation and before they broke up.
The recording was included in two of the artist’s songs, according to a lawsuit filed this month in a Puerto Rico court. Hernández said that her voice and the phrase she came up with are being used without her permission.
The lawsuit, which was first reported by online Puerto Rico news site Noticel, notes that the phrase was used in the “Pa Ti,” song, which has more than 355 million views on YouTube and more than 235 million plays on Spotify. It also was used in the “Dos Mil 16” song, which has more than 60 million views on YouTube and 280 million plays on Spotify.
Hernández says the clip follows her around everywhere, especially on social media.
“Since then, thousands of people have commented directly on Carliz’s social media networks, as well as every time she goes to a public place, about the ‘Bad Bunny, baby.’ This has caused, and currently causes, that De La Cruz feels worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious,” the lawsuit states.
She claimed Bad Bunny’s reps offered her $2,000 for the recording, but they never reached a deal and he used it anyway.
Hernández is suing for $40 million for the recording and for coming up with the phrase.
Also sued is Noah Kamil Assad Byrne, manager for Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Martínez Ocasio.
Assad and representatives of Bad Bunny did not immediately respond to a message for comment.