Yahoo Finance Mama June Awarded $5K After Suing Her Former Friend on Live Court TV Show: 'I Was Being Used'
Mama June Shannon has taken her former friend to court and was awarded a legal victory.
On Wednesday night, the Mama June: Road to Redemption star, 43, appeared on an episode of A&E's Court Night Live, where she was suing former friend and YouTuber Adam Barta.
Shannon was seeking $5,000 from Barta after allegedly consulting with him from February to August for his upcoming TV special The Dish. However, Shannon claimed she was never paid for her time or properly recognized as an executive producer, as initially promised.
During her appearance on the show, Shannon argued that Barta was "using my likeness and name for his financial gain," in part because she has "doing reality TV for 11 years and he knows that."
When asked why she never proposed a contract herself, Shannon explained, "Because [during] that time, I was in between management, doing stuff on my own. And at first, I didn't think he was going to constantly just ask and ask and ask [for my involvement]."
"I felt like I was being used," she added. "I have a life myself, I have a TV show myself, so I can't produce his show for free."
For his part, Barta denied there was ever a financial agreement between them, confirming that Shannon would be paid for her involvement. "I texted the contract to her, she did not sign it, never acknowledged it at all," he explained to the judge. "I sent it back in March of this year."
"We've done so much work together over the years so we've established this relationship," Barta claimed.
Ultimately, the judge ruled in favor of Shannon, stating that her celebrity status was what "drew [Barta] to her like a moth to a flame," and demanded that Barta must pay her the $5K and list her as an executive producer on the project.
"I just want my friend back, that's all I want," Barta said after the ruling. "She deserves [the executive producer title] but this was a project close to my heart."
"He's actually getting a very, very good deal," Shannon told cameras afterward. "Normally, it would be $25,000+ and I hope his show succeeds ... and I hope he's okay with losing all the money that he has put aside for this project."
Barta issued a statement on the matter to PEOPLE.
"I still have much love for June," Barta said. "And although I don't agree with this at all, the fact that she wants to be an executive producer so bad on this project, to me, shows how successful she thinks this project is going to be."
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Shannon previously appeared on a May 2021 episode of Barta's Celebrity Couch Coaster series with her then-boyfriend Geno Doak.
"I'm trying to support Adam, I'm trying to support myself and we're just trying to make some f---ing money," she said while on the show. "I went from losing Honey Boo Boo and bouncing my big ass up again to Mama June: From Not to Hot, then I went through my little f---ed up, crazy thing. And now I'm back on the top."
A&E's live legal show is hosted by Vinnie Politan and Judge Greg Mathis, with analysis from retired Judge Vonda Evans.
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The We TV reality star has a long history of legal issues.
In 2014, Shannon was linked to convicted sex offender Mark McDaniel, which prompted the cancellation of her TLC series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. That same year Shannon's daughter Anna revealed that she was a victim of McDaniel starting when she was 8 years old. She told PEOPLE that he "would try and touch [her] and all that stuff" when he was dating her mother.
In 2019, while dating boyfriend Doak, Shannon was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia after she allegedly had crack cocaine and a crack pipe on her. Doak was also arrested and charged with third-degree domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. She later admitted she and Doak had a "$2,500 a day" meth addiction.
In August 2020, Shannon revealed on Instagram she was six months sober, writing, "It's probably the most thing I'm proud of."
In June, she confirmed on Instagram that she had tied the knot with boyfriend of less than a year, Justin Stroud, at a Georgia courthouse on their six-month anniversary on March 23: "[We] are off the market!" she wrote.
