Barry Hankerson has blamed his own son for the 2001 plane crash that killed his niece, Aaliyah.
The music executive, 77, made the explosive claim in a court filing responding to a lawsuit brought by Jomo Hankerson over millions of dollars in music royalties, according to documents obtained Monday. Barry alleged that Jomo was responsible for coordinating the “Try Again” singer’s travel from the Bahamas, where she had been filming the “Rock the Boat” music video, back to Florida in August 2001.
Barry stated that his son “failed in his responsibility” and that the deadly crash “may have been avoided had [Jomo] followed through on his compensated task of travel coordination,” the filing read. Aaliyah and eight others died when their twin-engine Cessna 402B went down within a minute of takeoff from Marsh Harbour on Aug. 25, 2001.
The patriarch also noted that his relationship with Jomo changed permanently after Aaliyah’s death at age 22.
Jomo, for his part, had sued his father alleging breach of a settlement agreement involving recording masters and publishing rights for Aaliyah, DMX, Timbaland and Toni Braxton. He claimed he is owed 12 percent of funds Barry received and accused his father of hiding money through their record label by manufacturing expenses unrelated to the music assets.
“He manufactured expenses that had nothing to do with the music assets, all for the purpose of pressuring [me] into accepting less than what he is owed,” Jomo wrote in his complaint.
Barry fired back that the settlement Jomo cited was obtained through fraud, and he accused his son of threatening to release unpublished Aaliyah music if his financial demands were not met. Jomo denied that accusation. The younger Hankerson is seeking $1.2 million in damages from the dispute.
The crash that killed Aaliyah has long been scrutinized for its preventable circumstances. Pilot Luis Morales, 30, was found to have cocaine and alcohol in his system and was not authorized to fly the aircraft. The plane was also overloaded by roughly 700 pounds with unevenly distributed weight. The victims included Aaliyah’s hairstylist Eric Forman, 29; makeup artist Christopher Maldonado, 32; bodyguard Scott Gallin, 41; video producer Douglas Kratz, 28; stylist Anthony Dodd, 34; and Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace, 49, and Gina Smith, 30.
Earlier this month, on the 25th anniversary of her death, Aaliyah’s former boyfriend Damon “Dame” Dash said that the singer had expressed unease about the flight.
“She texted me saying, ‘I don’t like the plane.’ I told her, ‘Don’t get on it,'” Dash said. “However, she said she had to do it for the video.”
The “Rock the Boat” video was released posthumously in October 2001.
