Nas’ record label and media company, Mass Appeal, has inked a settlement with a white former executive who claims she was the target of discrimination and forced out because of her race.
Mass Appeal filed a joint motion with its former head of development, Melissa Cooper, in federal court on Friday (June 13), agreeing to dismiss the case entirely. Court filings show that Mass Appeal and Cooper have reached a settlement, although the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cooper sued Mass Appeal, CEO Peter Bittenbender and the company’s former content chief, Jenya Meggs, in 2023, claiming she was the subject of a “racist conspiracy” at the company. Nas is not individually named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Cooper said Meggs, who is Black, regularly disparaged her in meetings due to her alleged animosity toward a “white woman working in hip-hop.” Meggs eventually refused to work with Cooper, the lawsuit alleged, leading Bittenbender to take Cooper off big projects like the planning of Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50 Live concert. Cooper was ultimately terminated from Mass Appeal in June 2023.
After the firing, a former romantic partner of Meggs contacted Cooper and shared a slew of text messages between Meggs and a documentary producer that disparagingly referred to Cooper as a “cracker” and criticized “white folk.”
Cooper claimed she brought these messages to Bittenbender, but that he shrugged them off and took no action. Her lawsuit sought reinstatement to Mass Appeal, plus monetary damages for the supposed racism she endured.
Mass Appeal, Bittenbender and Meggs all “vigorously” denied engaging in any discrimination. They said in court filings that Cooper was terminated for financial reasons because her division had not sold any projects in a year, and that Meggs’ text messages were “taken out of context and are nothing but a red herring.”
Cooper and Mass Appeal exchanged evidence throughout 2024 and finished deposing witnesses this past December. They were about to begin the process of filing motions for summary judgment, followed by a possible trial, when a settlement was reached through mediation.
Lawyers for Cooper and reps for Mass Appeal did not immediately return requests for comment on the settlement on Monday (June 16).
Meggs departed Mass Appeal in 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Mass Appeal began as a print magazine in 1996 and was revived by Nas in 2014, when the hip-hop legend partnered with Bittenbender to relaunch the magazine and open the label Mass Appeal Records and content division Mass Appeal Media.
The company signed a global distribution deal with Universal Music Group in 2018.
