Aaliyah Uncle Blames Singer’s Cousin For Tragic Fatal Plane Crash

Published August 31, 2026 1:00 AM PDT

Aaliyah's uncle claims his son is partly to blame for the late singer's death ... lobbing the bombshell allegation as the two fight over money in court.

TMZ obtained a lawsuit filed by Jomo Hankerson against Barry Hankerson and his record label Blackground Records. Barry is Aaliyah's uncle and longtime manager. Jomo is Barry's son and Aaliyah's cousin.

In the docs, Barry claims Aaliyah's cousin was paid to coordinate travel for her music video shoot in the Bahamas ... referring to the fateful August 2001 trip where she died in a plane crash.

Aaliyah's uncle says his son "failed in his responsibility" to handle travel plans ... and she instead took a private jet that crashed and killed everyone onboard.

Barry says the fatal crash "may have been avoided had [Jomo] followed through on his compensated task of travel coordination."

Aaliyah's uncle said his relationship with his son was never the same after Aaliyah's death.

Blame game aside, the rest of the family war is pretty interesting too.

Jomo claims his dad breached a settlement over music rights … specifically, recording masters and music publishing copyrights for Aaliyah, Toni Braxton, DMX, and Timbaland.

Jomo says he is owed 12% of the money Barry made from the music assets per a settlement deal ... but claims his dad used the record label to hide money and "manufacture expenses that have nothing to do with the music assets, all for the purpose of pressuring [him] into accepting less than what he is owed." Jomo is seeking over $1.2 million in damages.

Barry denied all allegations of wrongdoing in the suit, claiming the settlement in question is not valid because it was executed under fraud.

Barry also claimed his son once threatened to release unreleased Aaliyah music if his financial demands were not met.

Jomo has also denied all claims of wrongdoing. The case is ongoing.