Yahoo Finance Aaliyah's Estate Slams 'Unauthorized Projects' That 'Leech Off' Her 'Life’s Work'
Aaliyah Haughton’s estate is speaking out against “unauthorized projects” connected to the late singer and actor with an impassioned statement.
On Wednesday, the estate representing the late Aaliyah Dana Haughton, who died in 2001, issued the statement on its various social media channels and told fans: “Protecting Aaliyah’s legacy is, and will always be, our focus. For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish.”
“We have always been confused as to why there is such a tenacity in causing more pain alongside what we already have to cope with for the rest of our lives,” reads the statement, which goes on to note a recent “unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate compels our hearts to express a word ― forgiveness.”
The statement appears to be a response to the Instagram account Blackground Records 2.0, which recently cropped up with a link to the website aaliyahiscoming.com.
Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s uncle and former manager who is the owner of the original Blackground Records, confirmed last week that he’d be reviving his old record label and rebranding it as Blackground Records 2.0.
Hankerson reportedly told gossip site The Shade Room that his goal is to “promote young talent.”
Last August, Aaliyah’s estate issued a statement indicating that it had begun communicating with “various record labels” about potentially putting her catalog of music on streaming services. It has not updated fans on the status of those communications.
The conclusion of the estate’s most recent statement emphasizes that it wants to “preempt the inevitable attacks on our character by all the individuals who have emerged from the shadows to leech off of Aaliyah’s life’s work.”
“Ultimately, we desire closure and a modicum of peace so we can facilitate the growth of the Aaliyah Memorial Fund and other creative projects that embody Aaliyah’s true essence, which is to inspire strength and positivity for people of all creeds, races and cultures around the world,” it says.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
