Grammy winner facing lawsuit over weed deal gone bad
Celebrities have come and gone from the cannabis space since the dawn of adult-use legalization. OGs like Snoop Dogg continue their reign in the culture. Others like Justin Bieber’s Peaches or Bella Thorne’s Forbidden Flowers disappear quietly.
One such disappearing act is Etheridge Farms, a brand backed by folksy crooner Melissa Etheridge. According to a new legal filing reported by Billboard, the singer and her wife ghosted their business partners.
Melissa Etheridge weed brand woes
Etheridge Farms was owned by the Grammy winner, her wife Linda, and Josephine and D’Angelo Roberto. The quartet was introduced by friends in Northern California and eventually partnered to capture the first non-retail cannabis license in Santa Cruz, Calif. By 2019, Etheridge announced an Etheridge Farms wine tincture selling for $420. Eventually, the brand adjusted to the market, offering three strains and pre-rolls. No products are currently listed on online menu platforms.
Unfortunately for Etheridge Farms, the singer stopped promoting the brand shortly after its first press push. That wasn’t the only agreement she fell back on, according to a legal petition filed by the Robertos on July 9th.
The petition claims that the Etheridges have not followed through on their business agreement in various ways. The Come to My Window singer agreed to pay the farm rent. After she failed to do so, the farm was forced to move from the address connected to its hard-to-earn license. The situation threatened the business license, which the Robertos claim has now captured their life savings.
The Etheridge family dealt with a lot of trauma in the time that passed since the original agreement to the legal petition. Their son lost a battle with opioid addiction, causing the songwriter to throw herself into the Etheridge Foundation, a non-profit focused on overcoming the opioid epidemic.
Since launching the farm, she dropped an album, Beautiful Day, and released My Window, an off-broadway musical based on her life. She mentioned cannabis consumption in her press run for these releases without a peep about the Soquel, Calif. farm with her name.
Business can get messy, especially in a nascent industry like cannabis. When it comes to celebrities, that fallout may be amplified due to their public standing. In the case of Etheridge Farms, fans of the singer are likely watching to see how things play out.
