Generally speaking, a potential lawsuit stemming from Miguel’s infamous “Lotus Power Bomb” at the Billboard Music Awards — in which he attempted to jump over the crowd pit, only to clip an audience member named Khyati Shah and slam her head onto the stage — largely hinges on two things: 1. Did Shah suffer legitimate, identifiable injuries during the incident, and 2. If so, who exactly was at fault? As far as the first stipulation goes, Shah’s claimed that she suffered brain damage as a result of the incident. And as TMZ reports today, Miguel was allegedly told not to attempt his jump in the first place, which in the case of a lawsuit, will test that second point.
The Los Angeles-based R&B singer is culpable already since, you know, he leg-slammed Shah’s head on national television. But a lawsuit would involve many, many more defendants than Miguel, including (but certainly not limited to) Billboard, the MGM Garden Grand Arena in Las Vegas, ABC, and Don Mischer Productions, the company that produced the show.
Of course, everyone involved could settle quickly out of court to make this whole messy matter go away. Or it could be brought to trial, wherein we’d learn many years down the line exactly who was responsible for one of the Internet’s favorite memes of 2013.
UPDATE: Miguel’s reps have now told TMZ that producers did not request that he refrain from jumping the crowd. Further, Miguel’s people contend that he rehearsed the jump twice and that the show’s producers knew he would attempt it live. The truth is in there somewhere, and it may very well decide who ends up writing a very large (or, at least, a larger) check to Khyati Shah.
