Harry Belafonte Sued By His Brother

The last time that we heard 85-year-old singer-turned-activist Harry Belafonte's name in the press, it was because he had some constructive things to say about Beyonce and Jay-Z's lack of social responsibility. That's died down, but it appears that he's involved in some not so positive press. This week, we learned that he's being sued by his half-brother, Raymond Wright. Raymond claims that his half-brother's (Belafonte) book, “My Song: A Memoir,” contains “a cluster of libels” intended to “incite media dislike of Wright and dissuade the media from publishing Wright’s work.” What's a bit odd about Raymond's suit? Well, for starters, the lawsuit was self-written and according to Page Six, it sounded like a bit of jibberish. The suit also says they’ve been estranged ever since a 1991 Post column by Fred Dicker, which reported how Wright urged then-Gov. Mario Cuomo to stop funding the “scandal-scarred” Martin Luther King Jr. Institute “created by Cuomo at Belafonte’s request” and divert its $1.5 million budget to homeless programs. Wright made the request after his and Belafonte’s mom, Melvina Belafonte Wright, died alone and sick after living in a Manhattan shelter. No response from Belafonte’s camp yet.