Woman accusing Ed Sheeran of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On is rushed from court on stretcher after collapsing during trial

• Kathryn Townsend Griffin, who is accusing Ed Sheeran of copying Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get it On’ in his hit song ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ collapsed in court
• Townsend Griffin, the daughter of the late co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, was assisted by several people and eventually taken out of court in a stretcher 
• Townsend Griffin, who has a pre-existing medical condition, did not disclose the reason for her fainting. – Sheeran has denied any wrongdoing over the work 

There was drama during musician Ed Sheeran’s federal copyright trial that suddenly threw the proceedings into chaos. 

Kathryn Townsend Griffin, the woman who is accusing Sheeran of copying parts of his 2014 song Thinking Out Loud with elements from her father’s iconic 1973 soul classic Let’s Get it On, suddenly collapsed in court while a music expert was being cross-examined. 

Townsend Griffin is the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the song with Marvin Gaye.

Just as Sheeran’s attorneys began cross-examining music expert, Alexander Stewart, Townsend Griffin was walking out of the courtroom when she suddenly fell. 

She was helped up by several people who worked to lift her her arms and legs but she ultimately had to be stretchered out of court after receiving medical attention. 

Kathryn Townsend Griffin, center,who is accusing Ed Sheeran of copying Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get it On’ in his hit song ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ collapsed in court on Wednesday

A stretcher was brought in to assist with the medical situation following her collapse

Sheeran was forced to deny he had ripped off the song during opening statements. He is pictured leaving court on Wednesday

Her lawyer did not disclose the reason for her fainting but said that she has a pre-existing medical condition. 

The incident caused a seven-minute delay before Judge Louis Stanton ordered the proceedings to continue.

During Stewart’s testimony, he outlined the similarities between the two hit songs noting how they ‘have the same harmonic rhythm’ while pointing out melodic similarities in the verse, chorus, and interlude. 

In a bizarre turn of events, a computer-generated rendition of ‘Let’s Get it On’ was played in court during Stewart’s testimony, which took up all of Wednesday.

Townsend Griffin, who was wearing a beige coat with ‘Dignity’ spelled on the back, had commented during an earlier break in the proceedings that the AI version of the song would have made her father ‘laugh’ if he heard it.

Sheeran was on the stand on Tuesday where he denied wrongdoing stating how he would not perform someone else’s work in front of thousands of fans. 

He told the jury he would have been ‘quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that’.

The British pop star is accused of ripping off Marvin Gayer’s Let’s Get It On track for his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud. Gaye is pictured in July 1976

Ed Sheeran leaves federal court in Manhattan following another day of testimony in the ongoing case brought against him by the family of Marvin Gaye for too close of similarity of a rhythm from ”Lets Get It On.” He brought his guitar to court today

Townsend Griffin’s attorney, Ben Crump, had claimed in his opening statement that Sheeran had given a ‘confession’ when he performed a mashup of his and Gaye’s songs during a 2014 concert in Switzerland. 

He referred to the video of the live performance as the ‘smoking gun’ in the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the heirs of Townsend, who are seeking a $100million payout, showed the video of the mash-up to support their allegation Sheeran, his label and music publisher owe them a share of the profits for the song.

Crump said the case was about ‘giving credit where credit is due.’

Townsend Griffin, the daughter of the late co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, was assisted by several people and eventually taken out of court in a stretcher. She is pictured on Tuesday

Kathryn Townsend Griffin is seen alongside her attorney Benjamin Crump on Wednesday

The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 classic, have sued Sheeran, alleging ‘striking similarities’ and ‘overt common elements’ between the 2014 track and the Motown hit 

Townsend Griffin, who has a pre-existing medical condition, did not disclose the reason for her fainting. She is pictured on Tuesday

‘Let’s Get It On’ has been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays since it came out in 1973. ‘Thinking Out Loud’ won a Grammy for song of the year in 2016.

The lawsuit was filed in 2017. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.

Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit ‘For Your Love,’ was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003.

The trial is ongoing, and its outcome will determine whether Sheeran’s hit song was an infringement of the copyright of ‘Let’s Get it On.’

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