Nicci Gilbert to Pay $170K in Ongoing ‘P-Valley’ Lawsuit

The battle between Nicci Gilbert and Hollywood studio Lionsgate has been going on for years, as the Brownstone singer continues to allege that the hit Starz series P-Valley is a ripoff of her past production, Soul Kittens Cabaret.

Now, in the latest development, Gilbert has been ordered to pay Lionsgate, which distributes Starz, $170,000 for the studio’s legal fees. Following the judgment, Gilbert took to social media with a lengthy response, alleging that intellectual property theft is akin to “violence.”

According to BallerAlert, she also called out the coverage of high-profile celebrity trials involving the likes of Sean “Diddy” Combs and Tory Lanez, saying that her legal issue is just as important because paying $170,000 is robbing her of the generational wealth she has acquired.

“The system only works for the wealthy and powerful,” she wrote. “If you think what’s happening to me can’t happen to you—keep watching.” Gilbert already lost the lawsuit, that she initially filed in 2022, when a judge in December 2023 ruled that neither Lionsgate nor Starz stole her intellectual property to create P-Valley.

The following year, in December 2024, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel turned down Gilbert’s appeal of the prior judgment. The three-judge panel ruled that no reasonable juror could find any substantial similarities between Soul Kittens Cabaret and P-Valley.

“Many of the purported similarities between the works are based on unprotectable elements such as generic plot devices … familiar stock scenes and themes … or scènes à faire that ‘flow naturally’ from the basic premise of dancers or performers at a cabaret or exotic dancing venue,” the panel said in its judgement.

Meanwhile, after a three-year wait, it appears that season three of P-Valley will finally premiere sometime this year, as cast members have teased the forthcoming season and confirmed that it has finished shooting.