On the second day of the civil rape trial against Metro Boomin on Wednesday (Sept. 24), for which Complex was present, the producer took the stand and claimed that he and plaintiff Vanessa LeMaistre had consensual sex twice. This followed testimony from LeMaistre, who maintained that their encounter was non-consensual. Metro, as well as his accuser, brought up Lil Wayne during their time on the stand.
LeMaistre testified that she believed Lil Wayne’s 2011 song “How to Love” was about her and said they dated for ten months. The defense referenced an interview in which she discussed dating Lil Wayne with South African news website Independent Online, though the judge ultimately ruled the interview irrelevant to Metro’s defense. During Metro's testimony, he also alleged that the plaintiff claimed her deceased child was fathered by Wayne. She was visibly taken aback at the assertion.
The trial, which began on Sept. 23 in Los Angeles, stems from allegations made by LeMaistre that Metro Boomin (born Leland Wayne) raped her in a hotel room in 2016 after she took a half a Xanax and a shot of alcohol he gave her to help cope with her anxiety.
According to her testimony, LeMaistre said she was openly grieving the recent death of her nine-month-old son, who Metro, as previously mentioned, claimed was fathered by Lil Wayne, and that the two had a brief discussion about their shared depression.
The accuser says she fell asleep and claims she woke up to Metro performing oral sex and raping her. She alleged that the encounter led to a pregnancy and subsequent abortion and that 21 Savage's verse in Metro’s track “Rap Saved Me,” which also featured Offset and Quavo, mocked her experience. Metro has denied all allegations.
The lawsuit, filed years after the alleged incident, was prompted by an ayahuasca ceremony the plaintiff underwent in 2024. She testified that the psychedelic experience made her realize that the alleged assault was the “root of continual trauma, pain and suffering.”
A letter she wrote after the ceremony included her vow to “blow the whistle on Metro Boomin,” “contact Cassie [Ventura’s] lawyer,” and publicly air out the producer online.
Courtroom tension escalated when it was revealed that LeMaistre claimed to have channeled Metro’s late mother Leslie Wayne, who was murdered in 2022, during that same ayahuasca ceremony. She claimed Leslie expressed disappointment in her son. In response, Metro made a “cuckoo” gesture to his team, which was immediately challenged by LeMaistre’s attorney, Michael J. Willemin.
The plaintiff is seeking between $3.4 and $3.7 million in damages.
Metro’s legal team, led by Lawrence C. Hinkle II, has painted LeMaistre as financially desperate and vengeful, claiming she concocted a “drug-induced plan” to extort Metro after he stopped giving her attention. Hinkle alleged LeMaistre was a “woman scorned” and a “willing participant,” while pointing to alleged text messages she sent his client in 2017 and 2018 such as “Meet me in DC” and “I miss u” as evidence that her story changed out of desperation, not trauma.