Kim Osorio Wins $14.5 Million in Source Lawsuit Verdict

Booyaca! I imagine you've got about as much chance to collect on that as I do collecting on those checks The Source owes me from '91, but congrats nonetheless.

Kim Osorio Wins Big in Source Lawsuit
Ex-Source editor gets $14.5M for firing after harass charges
daily news

The Bible of Hip Hop is out a lot of Benjamins.

A federal jury in Manhattan yesterday ruled that The Source magazine and its two founders must pay $14.5 million to a former top editor who described a raunched-out workplace where executives watched porn, smoked pot and called female employees "b------." "I feel like I've been vindicated," said Kimberly Osorio, who was canned last year. "Whether it's hip hop, rock 'n' roll or the post office, there's still laws a company needs to abide by."

The jury took just four hours to find that Osorio was fired in retaliation for complaining about sexual shenanigans at the magazine. It also found that co-owner Raymond (Benzino) Scott defamed her during a radio interview when he accused the single mom of bed-hopping with hip-hop honchos.

"This verdict shows that all women must be treated with dignity and respect, no matter what industry they work in," said Osorio's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson. In his closing argument, the former federal prosecutor told jurors that the "eyes of the hip-hop community are upon you" while urging them to hammer Scott and co-founder David Mays.

Thompson also replayed a vile telephone tirade in which Scott called a music journalist an "ugly butch pig" and a "slut monkey."