‘I Like to Move It’ DJ Erick Morillo dies at 49

The “I like to Move It” DJ was found dead at his Miami home

Famed DJ Erick Morillo, known for his hit “I Like to Move It,” has died at the age of 49.

Miami Beach Police Department found Morillo dead in his Miami Beach home on Tuesday, People reports. They responded to a call that came in at 10:42 a.m., according to MBPD public information officer Ernesto Rodriguez. The manner of Morillo’s death remains under investigation until the medical examiner can determine the exact cause.

“Detectives are currently on scene and in the preliminary stages of the investigation,” Rodriguez wrote in an email to People.

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Morillo’s loved ones told the outlet that he would be deeply missed.

“He was well-loved by his family and he had a lot of love to give,” they said.

The tributes began to flood in for Morillo who left an imprint on music with his signature 1993 song “I Like to Move It” which he performed under the stage name Reel 2 Real. Sacha Baron Cohen covered the song for 2005’s Madagascar and Morillo produced it.

DJ Erick Morillo performs during Day 1 of the Coachella Valley Music Festival. (Photo: Getty Images)

He also earned two wins as the DJ Awards’ best house DJ, last receiving the honor in 2009, and three wins as best international DJ.

“Can’t believe it,” tweeted DJ Yousef. “Only spoke to him last week… he was troubled, less than perfect but was always amazing to me and helped us get circus going in the early days, and we had many amazing times over the 20 years we were friends. Genuinely gutted. RIP.”

😳💔 Can’t believe it. Only spoke to him last week… he was troubled, less than perfect but was always amazing to me and helped us get circus going in the early days, and we had many amazing times over the 20 years we we’re friends. Genuinely gutted. RIP @ErickMorillo 🤯

— Yousef (@yousefcircus) September 1, 2020

Morillo’s unexpected death came a month after he turned himself in to authorities in Miami on charges of sexual battery. The Miami Times reported that A fellow DJ accused him of raping her at his home last December.

The unidentified woman contacted police on Dec. 7 alleging that Morillo invited her and another woman back to his residence after she had worked as a DJ at a Star Island party.

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The woman accused Morillo of offering her a drink and after she changed into a bathing suit to join him in the pool, he then began to make advances that were “sexual in nature.”

She says she felt disrespected and changed back into her clothes. Morillo then apologized for his alleged behavior, and she accepted the apology.

Her complaint says that after she went to sleep on the second floor of his home, she woke up undressed with Morillo standing over her naked. She claimed to have experienced “flashes” of a rape.

Morillo denied the accusation, saying he’d only had sex with another woman at his home that night and was surprised to find the DJ in his bed. However, in July, a rape kit linked him to the accuser and he turned himself in on Aug. 6.

The New York-born DJ was raised in Columbia where he started his career, ultimately releasing 2 albums as Reel 2 Reel, 1994’s “Move It!”  and 1996’s “Are You Ready for Some More?”  In 2017, he admitted his struggles with alcohol abuse and ketamine addiction to Skiddle.

“I went to rehab three times and even after all three I never gave up alcohol,” he told the outlet. “That was what seemed to keep pulling me under. So, besides the fact that I hurt so many people, I think the most difficult part was coming to the realization that I was going to have to go completely sober.”

He said therapy had helped him overcome his addictions.

According to the Associated Press, Morillo was free on a $25K bond and had a court hearing on Friday.

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Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker sues over police raid

Kenneth Walker, who was with Breonna Taylor when she died, is citing Kentucky’s ‘stand your ground’ law

Breonna Taylor‘s boyfriend has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Louisville police should have never sought criminal prosecution against him due to Kentucky’s “stand your ground” law.

According to local news station WDRB, Tuesday, Kenneth Walker sued state and city governments and 13 current or former Louisville Metro Police Department officers, as well as former LMPD Chief Steve Conrad, whom Mayor Greg Fischer fired in June.

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Walker was with Taylor when authorities shot and killed her in her home. His attorneys argue that the state self-defense statute makes Kentuckians such as himself “immune” from arrest and other charges when they act in self-defense.

But the lawsuit claims that instead of abiding by the law, police instead  “threatened Kenny’s life, illegally detained Kenny, interrogated him under false pretenses, ignored his account as corroborated by neighbors, and arrested and jailed Kenny.”

Kenneth Walker statement on lawsuit filed today. @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/wQcYpcrvYB

— Travis Ragsdale (@TravisRagsdale) September 1, 2020

As a result, the case, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court by attorney Steve Romines, asks that he not only be immune from further prosecution in the case but that it also be acknowledged that he is entitled to protection under state law. He also wants a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages.

“Kentuckians have no duty to retreat or submit to force,” the lawsuit continues, noting a 1931 state court case: “It is the tradition that a Kentuckian never runs. He does not have to.”

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Several members of law enforcement are also accused of making a false arrest, “malicious prosecution” and negligence.

Walker is a licensed gun owner, and although he only fired one shot when he believed intruders had burst into the home, his legal counsel says he, “continues to reel from the death of the love of his life, but he is also the victim and survivor of police misconduct – misconduct that threatens his freedom to this day.” 

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Macron on Lebanon: ‘It’s a risky bet I’m making’

BEIRUT — Emmanuel Macron says he’s making a “risky bet” by working to avoid a political collapse in Lebanon, but is limited in what he can achieve.

"It's the last chance for this system," the French president told POLITICO in an interview while en route from Paris to Beirut Monday evening.

"It’s a risky bet I’m making, I am aware of it … I am putting the only thing I have on the table: my political capital."

Macron is in the Middle Eastern country and former French protectorate for the second time within a month to try to chart a way forward based on reforms in exchange for a bailout. The country has been reeling from a long-standing political and financial crisis, in addition to the resurgence of the coronavirus and the massive explosion that ripped through Beirut's port in August, killing nearly 200 and prompting the resignation of Hassan Diab as prime minister.

After weeks of French pressure to nominate a so-called credible figure to the premiership, political parties agreed to put forward diplomat Mustapha Adib as the new prime minister on Monday — just hours before Macron’s arrival.

The French president has emerged as the only global heavyweight to have offered the country's leaders a potential path to safety, though his critics say he isn't doing enough.

Lebanon's ruling class has steamrolled previous attempts by the international community to push reform in the country. Macron warned the next three months will be "fundamental" for real change to happen, and if it doesn't, he will switch tack, taking punitive measures that range from withholding a vital international financial bailout to imposing sanctions against the ruling class.

But Macron’s detractors say he is not using the full breadth of France's influence and power to bring about the change he seeks, given the Lebanese party currently most opposed to real reforms — Hezbollah — is empowered to do so due to its umbilical bond with Iran and the formidable financing and arming it provides.

Macron refuted the critique, arguing: "If we fight force with force, that’s called escalation," and that only leads to war, which he said is the last thing Lebanon needs.

"Don't ask France to come wage war against a Lebanese political force ... It would be absurd and crazy."

The choice Macron is faced with in Lebanon is the same one liberal democracies are facing in dealing with countries such as Russia, China, Turkey and Iran, which don’t hesitate to use armed force, violate international laws and subvert the global rules-based system.

"The difficulty of those who defend a pluralist path is not to fall into the trap of the escalation of powers; it’s the trap I don’t want to fall into and I won’t fall into, including in the Eastern Mediterranean," Macron said, referring to Turkey’s rising tensions with Greece over maritime territory.

Macron insisted he doesn’t have a record of being soft and isn’t about to back down in Lebanon either — citing his administration’s decision to launch an airstrike in Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people, and deployment of a ship and two fighter jets to the Mediterranean in response to Ankara’s moves in disputed waters.

The French leader said he plans to engage with the new prime minister-designate and all Lebanese political parties in parliament — including those he doesn’t agree with. Macron said he wants credible commitments from political party leaders that they’ll make reforms, including a concrete timetable for implementing changes and holding a parliamentary election within “six to 12 months.” He also said he wants to implement a "demanding" follow-up mechanism on these pledges.

Uneasy start

Macron’s return to Lebanon after a first visit following the blast has been met with a wave of skepticism of what he's been able to achieve, even among those who hailed him as a potential savior for the country only three weeks ago.

A small crowd waited for Macron outside the house of legendary Lebanese singer Fayrouz — whom he visited Monday in his first stop — shouting "Adib won't do!" and "We want Nawaf Salam!"

Critics are disgruntled with the choice of the new prime minister-designate, a hitherto largely unknown figure, who served as chief of staff to Najib Mikati, a former embattled prime minister, and most recently as ambassador to Germany.

Macron said the closest alternative, Nawaf Salam — a current judge on the International Court of Justice who has been the main candidate for prime minister of civil society and opposition groups that have been protesting since October 2019 — would not have worked.

Hezbollah vetoed the choice. On top of that, Salam’s support comes from protest movements rather than political parties, meaning he wouldn’t have had enough parliamentary support. He would have needed to be granted exceptional legislative powers for a transitional period to be able to pass reforms and hold elections unobstructed — something France couldn’t secure.

"If I imposed Mr. Nawaf Salam ... we kill his candidacy because we put him in a system in which the parliament will block everything,” Macron said.

But Macron also accused the protest movement of not rising to the occasion.

"A name works if the street knows how to produce a leader who leads the revolution, and breaks the system. It didn’t work, at least not today, maybe tomorrow or after tomorrow it will."

Macron also rejected accusations that he personally chose Adib and made a deal with Iran.

"I don’t know him, I didn’t choose him, and it’s not my job to interfere or approve," he said.

Macron claimed he’s exerting pressure in Lebanon in a way that hasn’t been done before by visiting the country in such quick succession; holding frank, long and repeated conversations with the ruling class; threatening to withhold aid and impose sanctions, among other things.

Citing Italian Marxist writer Antonio Gramsci, Macron said: "The new is having a hard time emerging, and the old is persevering. We have to find a way through, that’s what I’m trying to do."

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