Four Tops Singer Sues Hospital For Accusing Him Of Being Delusional About Being In Legendary Group

The lead singer of The Four Tops filed a lawsuit against a Michigan hospital for accusing him of lying about his celebrity status.

The lead singer of the legendary Motown group The Four Tops has filed a lawsuit against a Michigan hospital for accusing him of lying about his position in the group.

Alexander Morris might not be an original member of the group that dominated the pop music scene in the 1960s and helped propel Motown to international stardom, but he has been a key figure of the quartet since joining The Four Tops as their lead singer in 2019.

However, his music career was allegedly overlooked when Morris sought treatment at Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital in Warren in April 2023, People reported. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, June 10, Morris accuses Ascension of racial discrimination over claims hospital staff deemed him as “delusional” and denied him medical care after he told them he was a member of the classic group.

According to the suit, Morris was restrained for an hour and a half and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after hospital staffers “wrongfully assumed he was mentally ill when he revealed his identity as a celebrity figure.” Morris was experiencing chest pain and trouble breathing while on tour with the band when he sought treatment at Ascension.

The singer informed the hospital about his celebrity status and “current security concerns due to stalkers and fans.” However, upon sharing this information, hospital staff took him off oxygen and ordered a psych evaluation instead of the emergency medical treatment he was in need of.

His requests for oxygen were “ignored,” and he was put in a restraining jacket, the lawsuit states. When he asked to be removed from the restraints so that he could seek treatment at a different hospital, the hospital denied his request. He also accuses the late security guard, who is white, of telling him to “sit his Black ass down” when he asked to show ID to prove his identity.

The hospital, a nurse, and a security guard, who passed away in September, are listed as defendants in the suit seeking more than $75,000 and a trial by jury. It wasn’t until Morris’s wife arrived and showed a video of him performing at the Grammy Awards that the hospital removed the restraints and put him back on oxygen.

“When our client presented to the hospital he was racially profiled. The hospital staff and security guard were quicker to assume Mr. Morris was psychotic than successful because he was a Black man,” his attorneys Maurice Davis and Jasmine Rand said in a statement.

“Even if he was mentally ill he was still in the middle of a clear medical emergency that necessitated swift medical intervention. The hospital had no excuse to deny him emergency medical treatment.”

Morris, who has a history of cardiac issues, was ultimately diagnosed with a heart infraction that could require a heart transplant and cause pneumonia. He also suffered three seizures that day, the lawsuit states. Morris says the hospital offered him a $25 gift card “as an apology.”

“The health, safety and well-being of our patients, associates and community members remains our top priority,” an Ascension spokesperson said in a statement. “We remain committed to honoring human dignity and acting with integrity and compassion for all persons and the community. We do not condone racial discrimination of any kind. We will not comment on pending litigation.”