Image via Youtube
Carliz De La Cruz Hernández, an ex-girlfriend whose voice can be heard on two of the Grammy-winning artist’s songs, is suing Bad Bunny in a significant amount of money.
De La Cruz Hernández’s “indistinguishable” contributions to “Pa Ti” and “Dos Mil 16,” where she famously says “Bad Bunny, baby,” were allegedly utilized without her consent, according to the $40 million lawsuit.
The recording has also been used in “promotions, worldwide concerts, television, radio, and social and musical platforms,” according to the Associated Press, which quotes Puerto Rico’s NotiCel.
De La Cruz Hernández’s lawsuit, filed in March in a Puerto Rican court, declares, “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 Hernández feels worried, anguished, intimidated, overwhelmed and anxious.”
On YouTube and Spotify, the combined streams of “Pa Ti” and “Dos Mil 16” are getting close to one billion. Also included in the lawsuit are record label Rimas Entertainment and Bad Bunny’s manager Noah Kamil Assad Byrne.
De La Cruz Hernández and Bunny, whose actual name is Benito Antonio Martnez Ocasio, began dating in 2011 and broke up in 2017. Carliz claims she received a call from the superstar’s agent in May 2022 with a $2,000 offer for the rights to her “Bad Bunny, baby” vocal.
In response, she “spoke with someone at Rimas Entertainment who also offered to buy it, saying the recording would be used in the upcoming album, Un Verano Sin Ti”, She declined this offer.
Although no agreement was made, “Dos Mil 16” was included on the Album, which was released in the same month and recently won the Grammy for Best Msica Urbana Album. (Bad Bunny has received nine nominations and three wins overall.)