Reality TV star and owner of a popular soul food restaurant Robbie Montgomery is suing a social media influencer for defamation. The restaurateur took issues with the woman’s content, claiming it painted her in a nefarious light — accusing her of various acts of reckless and criminal activity.
On Monday, Aug. 1, Montgomery, best known as the star of the OWN reality series “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” filed a complaint against YouTuber Phyllis Flint over videos the woman made on her “Eat with Phylly Phyl Talk Show & More” program.
“Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” starred the reality show, which wrapped in 2018, starred Montgomery; her son, Tim Norman; her nephew, Charles Crenshaw; her niece, Monique; her sisters Jan and Linda; among other family members and staff.
Montgomery, a former background singer for Ike and Tina Turner, eatery owner, and TV star, alleges that in an episode titled “SWEETIE PIE’S TIM NORMAN’S FATHER BEST FRIEND WIFE CALLS & GIVES TEA ON THE FAMILY” Phyllis Flint and Shanice Coty defamed her by saying she had something to do with her grandson Andre Montgomery Jr.’s death and that she was an accessory to the 21-year-old’s murder.
Inside the Lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, the duo also delighted in talking about Montgomery’s alleged “promiscuous and adulterous sex life” in the 1960s, when she was one of the original Ikettes with the Ike and Tina Turner Review.
The 25:22-minute video was published on June 26, 2022, and has received over 263K views.
During the broadcast, Coty called in and claimed the 82-year-old and her son, James Timothy Norman, must have worked together to have Andre fatally shot in March of 2016 near Fairground Park in Memphis, Tennessee, for the insurance money.
The lawsuit states the caller, who claims intimate proximity to the Norman-Montgomery family, said the mother had to have known something about her son’s alleged plan to hire someone to do away with the young man in an effort to claim his life insurance benefits because of her history and her decision to stand by her son as he goes to trial.
Coty contends she and her husband used to be best friends with Montgomery’s husband and knew that Montgomery had a reputation of being promiscuous, even alleging she slept with Ike Turner while she was an Ikette.
About Robbie Montgomery
Montgomery stepped away from entertainment after her lung collapsed and she was no longer able to sing. Now, a successful businesswoman, her multiple restaurants, reality show (which debuted in 2011), cookbooks, and other projects have helped her secure a net worth of $12 million.
She is the mother of two sons: Andre Montgomery, whose son was murdered, and Tim Norman, who is accused of having the grandson killed.
Accusations made by ‘Eat with Phylly Phyl Talk Show & More’
The woman on the video also alleged this is not the first murder connected to the family but spoke about Montgomery’s ex-husband supposedly murdering someone and her brother “Fisherman” cutting a white woman’s head off and “wearing it on his belt buckle around the town.”
“I bet you, I won’t get sued and it won’t be no comeback because I am not lying,” Coty said in late June.
However, a lawsuit has been filed and defendants have been served, according to St. Louis Today. The claim alleges Montgomery’s reputation has been damaged by the comments made on the program, calling them “wanton,” “malicious” and “tended to expose plaintiff to hatred, contempt and/or ridicule.”
Flint did a live video on Friday, Aug. 5, to address the lawsuit, saying all the content on her show was “for entertainment purposes only and allegedly. I’m not accusing nobody of nothing.”
As she ate her lunch, she said, “I ain’t did nothing wrong. I plead the Fifth.”
The murder trial of Andre Norman is soon gearing up with people admitting their guilty of the crime.
According to Atlanta Black Star, on Thursday, July 28, a month after the first video went up, Terica Ellis and Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, two defendants linked in the murder-for-hire plot to kill Montgomery, pleaded guilty.
Ellis, who was a romantic partner with Norman, was paid $10,000 to help set up the murder including telling her friend where Andre was before his slaying. Telephone records track her calling Norman immediately after the murder.
Yaghnam was Norman’s insurance agent and is said to have helped Norman take out a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew before his death, according to his plea agreement.
Norman would be the sole beneficiary. After Andre’s death, Norman attempted to cash it in.
The two parties joined a third party named Travell Anthony Hill who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire as well as a separate count of murder-for-hire on Friday, June 3. During his plea, Hill said he shot and killed the young man for $5,000 after he was recorded talking about the murder to his brother on a jail call.
While this case is developing, Norman’s criminal case is set to go to trial on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
