Dallas, TX – DJ Spinderella filed a lawsuit against her former Salt-N-Pepa members last month, seeking monetary compensation for unpaid royalties. On Friday (August 2), a spokesperson for Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton, Rich French, released a statement to HipHopDX revealing the case has been moved to mediation.
“A U.S. District Court Judge in the Dallas District today rejected DJ Spinderella’s requests for immediate relief against Salt-N-Pepa and its management, ordering the case to mediation,” French said in the statement. “We are grateful for the judge’s ruling as Salt-N-Pepa have been extremely generous to Spin over many decades and attempted to settle what amounts to a divorce, both peacefully and without rancor.
“Unfortunately, Spin and her legal team adopted a scorched earth approach that brought unnecessary attention to a business dispute that all along could have, and should have, been settled amicably and privately.”
In May, Spin revealed she wouldn’t be touring with Salt-N-Pepa as part the New Kids On The Block: The Mixtape Tour and claimed the other two members had sent her packing.
“I’m deeply saddened to share with all the #SaltnPepa and #Spinderella fans that I will not be performing on the #NKOTB Mixtape Tour,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “Despite my participation in promoting the tour and being highly publicized as one the acts, in January 2019 I received a ‘termination’ email from #SaltnPepa excluding me from performances with the group.”
Spinderella was originally suing for trademark infringement, fraud and breach contract. She was reportedly most upset about what she learned from SoundExchange, a company that collects and distributes royalties to artists.
She was told Salt and Pepa have been paid over $600,000 in royalties in the last 10 years, and Spin never saw any the money.