Inside the dark undercurrent of Online Justice: Space Jesus shares filed lawsuit alleging Harassment, Defamation, & Stalking
Photo courtesy of L. Leuterio.
In an industry still processing the fallout of public accusations, canceled tours, and social-media courtrooms, bass music producer Space Jesus — real name Jasha Tull — stepped forward not with a tweet, but with a lawsuit. His filing alleged that a California woman, Michaela Higgins, had orchestrated a campaign of harassment, defamation, and stalking that upended his career and personal life.
The 30-page complaint, submitted in a Pennsylvania district court, described what Tull called a “multi-platform smear operation” — a coordinated wave of posts, stories, and anonymous tips tied to the Higgins-created Instagram account, @evidenceagainstspacejesus. The page published sweeping allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse against the producer during the height of the #MeToo-era reckoning in electronic music.
Tull’s lawsuit claimed those accusations were false and part of a pattern of targeted harassment. The documents further alleged that Higgins had made “knowingly untrue statements” and “engaged in cyber-stalking and intimidation,” not only against him but also his parents, who joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.
From Scene Hero to Scapegoat
At the time, Space Jesus stood as one of the most recognizable names in experimental bass — a touring headliner, a festival staple, and a collaborator with artists like Liquid Stranger and CharlestheFirst. But as the internet seized on the allegations, his bookings collapsed almost overnight. Labels cut ties. Promoters backed out. His silence — once interpreted as aloofness — became evidence of guilt in the eyes of online mobs.
Higgins, who had built a following through anonymous survivor platforms, defended her posts as “public awareness.” Tull’s legal team countered that she acted with “malice and reckless disregard for truth,” publishing claims with no verifiable evidence and weaponizing virality.
Court filings describe an escalating pattern: emails to promoters warning against booking him, coordinated comment threads tagging festivals, and inflammatory posts referencing his family. It was, in the words of his attorney, “trial by social media with no due process, no evidence, and no end.”
The Legal Labyrinth
Higgins’ defense quickly filed motions to dismiss, arguing that her statements were either opinion, rhetorical expression, or protected under free speech. The court agreed in part — dismissing some claims but allowing others to be amended and refiled.
Defamation law, notoriously difficult to prove, requires showing both falsity and actual malice — a high bar that most public figures struggle to meet. Still, Tull pressed forward, framing the case not just as self-defense, but as a stand for anyone whose life had been dismantled by unchecked online narratives.
By 2022, both parties signaled that they had “resolved matters privately.” Whether that meant settlement, dismissal, or quiet truce remains unclear. No judgment was made public. The lawsuit disappeared from headlines as quickly as it arrived — leaving behind a trail of questions about justice, truth, and the internet’s appetite for outrage.
The Human Cost of Viral Accusations
Tull’s case didn’t exist in a vacuum. It mirrored a broader reckoning within electronic music — one that saw other artists like Bassnectar and SNAILS fight their own legal battles against similar allegations. Each story revealed something unsettling about the culture of accountability online: how movements meant to protect survivors sometimes mutate into echo chambers that abandon evidence for emotion.
None of this dismisses the importance of survivor voices. But it underscores a painful truth: when the web turns into a weapon, no one wins. Reputations are destroyed, mental health erodes, and real victims — of both abuse and falsehood — are left unheard amid the noise.
For Tull, whose artistic identity was once built around themes of cosmic harmony and consciousness, the lawsuit marked a descent into something darker — a confrontation with how far justice can stray when shaped by hashtags instead of facts.
A New Era of Reckoning
As the dust settles, one reality is becoming clearer: the music world is entering a new era where the fight for truth is no longer ideological — it’s legal. Artists are no longer content to let the court of public opinion be the final word. They’re taking their cases to actual courts, seeking rulings that can’t be ratioed, misquoted, or algorithmically buried.
Whether Space Jesus’s case becomes a precedent or a footnote, it highlights the same collision point the culture keeps returning to — the space between accountability and annihilation.
It’s a space worth interrogating. Because if we don’t, the next artist to lose everything in the name of justice may not have the means — or the strength — to fight back.
Read the full lawsuit below.
Information seeker. Dog lover. PhD drop out. College professor by day, EDM photographer by night.