Arsenio Hall Sues Sinead O'Connor For Saying He Furnished Drugs To Prince

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Arsenio Hall is suing Sinead O'Connor over a Facebook post in which the singer accused him of furnishing Prince with drugs.

The comedian's libel lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court calls O'Connor's accusations fabricated lies. The lawsuit states O'Connor, who scored a hit in 1990 with her rendition of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," barely knew the superstar and despised him.

O'Connor wrote a Facebook post Monday that stated investigators looking into the supplier of drugs used by Prince should question Hall. She also accused him of drugging her.

O'Connor's agent did not immediately return an email message seeking comment.

The lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages but any award would be decided by a jury. The case was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.

CBS2's Rachel Kim spoke Thursday to Ashley Cullins of the Hollywood Reporter.

"He says this is a cry for attention and she's just trying to get in on the conversation while everyone is talking about Prince," Cullins said.

In the lawsuit, Hall calls O'Connor desperate, bizarre and says her claimed are malicious, outlandish lies."

Kim also spoke to fans of both Hall and O'Connor for their reactions.

"She must be very lonely, so sad," said Dennis Ui, "Arsenio will get paid man. Go get paid, bro."

"I love Sinead O'Connor," said Ericka Young, "so of course I want to believe what she says but it's also like I don't know."

"When you're a professional and you put people on blast like that," said Billy Vernetti, "without knowing all the facts, it's really poor. Whether she's right or not, there's better places to take that than social media."

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