Nancy Dillon
Contact Nancy Dillon on X Contact Nancy Dillon by Email View all posts by Nancy Dillon April 30, 2026
Busta Rhymes on January 29, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. JC Olivera/Billboard Busta Rhymes has reached a private settlement with the ex-assistant who claimed the Grammy-nominated rapper punched him in the face in the lobby of the rapper’s Brooklyn apartment building last year.
The former assistant, Dashiel Gables, had claimed Rhymes, born Trevor Smith Jr., flew into a rage and assaulted him over a delayed pan of chicken and a phone call Gables took from his young daughter, which purportedly violated a no-cellphone rule on the job.
Smith, 53, was arrested and issued a desk appearance ticket for third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, CBS News New York reported at the time. Last August, the ex-assistant filed an assault and battery lawsuit in federal court that invoked the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. He claimed he was subjected to workplace abuses and then blackballed from the hip-hop industry after the alleged assault.
Smith denied Gables’ allegations and filed a counterclaim for defamation in October. He said Gables’ claims damaged his reputation and caused him to lose income and business opportunities.
