Logan Paul is fighting Dillon Danis. Why is Paul’s fiancee, Nina Agdal, suing Danis?
Ever since it was announced in August that YouTube influencer Logan Paul was fighting MMA fighter Dillon Danis in a boxing match, his opponent has relentlessly gone after Paul’s fiancee, Nina Agdal, on social media.
Now the supermodel has responded.
Agdal filed a lawsuit and restraining order Wednesday against Danis, accusing him of leading “a relentless, ongoing campaign of cyber harassment and bullying against her” that included “unlawfully posting nonconsensual, sexually explicit photographs of her on the internet without her consent.”
The lawsuit, which has been viewed by The Times, was filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J. It accuses Danis of two counts of disclosure of intimate images and one count of invasion of privacy in relation to posts made to his social media accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Instagram.
“Although there are many pictures of Plaintiff in the public domain given her professional success and the media attention that has come with it, not all of the content Danis has used for his posts relating to plaintiff had been publicly available prior to his posts,” the lawsuit reads.
One such instance, according to the lawsuit, involves a “sexually explicit photograph” of Agdal taken without her consent during “a romantic encounter that the Plaintiff had with a non-party more than 10 years ago.” The lawsuit alleges Danis only deleted the photo from his account when promoter Misfits Boxing threatened to call off his Oct. 14 fight against Paul in Manchester, England.
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The lawsuit also alleges foul play involving a video Danis posted of Agdal last month, which remains on his timeline:
“While Plaintiff self-recorded that video more than six years ago, she never sent that private video recording to anyone, and it was stored deep in her Snapchat archive, suggesting Danis had hacked Plaintiff’s personal account or had obtained the private video from someone who had done so.”
Court documents viewed by The Times show Judge Madeline Cox Arleo on Thursday granted Agdal’s request for a temporary restraining order preventing Danis “and all persons in active concert or participation with him ... from posting sexually explicit photographs of Plaintiff on the internet without her consent.”
Arleo issued an order to show cause for Tuesday, at which time the court will decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction that will remain in effect for the duration of the lawsuit.
Danis, a training partner of UFC star Conor McGregor, is 2-0 in Bellator’s welterweight division and will be making his boxing debut. Paul, who is 0-1-2 as a boxer, will be returning to the ring for the first time in more than two years after turning his attention to his career as a WWE wrestler.
Logan Paul had one of the biggest megaphones on YouTube and left it behind for a corner of the internet where he can be his full, unrestricted self. But he’s been unable to escape thorny questions about the proper limits of online speech.
An online feud quickly ensued between the fighters upon the Aug. 8 announcement of their upcoming bout. Agdal, who appeared on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition’s 50th anniversary cover in 2014, got caught in the crossfire.
“Notwithstanding that Plaintiff has never met, spoken to, or interacted with Danis, Danis nevertheless has made Plaintiff the primary target of his attacks against Paul,” the lawsuit states. “Danis has used his social media accounts to make hundreds of crude posts about Plaintiff.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Danis has posted about Agdal more than 250 times on X and Instagram, often referring to her with explicit and disparaging language and using “memes and pictures [many of which have been altered] to convey the same message.”
Danis has responded to the lawsuit with multiple social media posts, indicating he “won’t stop” his online activity regarding Agdal and Paul.
“Nina Adgel has filed a massive lawsuit against me,” Danis tweeted Wednesday. “She filed a restraining order against me and is seeking prison time, so the fight is in jeopardy if I’m in jail. This is actually wild but I won’t stop f— the system come get me. Logan Paul is a dead man walking.”
Twitter dragged the shock-jock YouTube star Monday for his questionable take on Jordan Peele’s satire of media exploitation.
Paul laughed off Danis’ trolling of his fiancee during an appearance on the “Flagrant” podcast (warning: explicit language) late last month.
“I know who I am, I know who my girl is, I know we love each other,” Paul said. “Some f— internet troll posing as a fighter is not gonna get in between us.”
Agdal is seeking damages of at least $150,000 per violation of each statute, as well as a temporary restraining order to prevent Danis from “continuing to disclose sexually explicit photographs of Plaintiff without her consent” and from disclosing materials regarding Agdal that were not meant to be shared publicly.
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