Cypress Hill Backup Singer Sues Take Two For $250 Million; Says GTA Character Based On His Life

from the insane-in-the-brain dept

Apparently, a backup singer from the group Cypress Hill, Michael "Shagg" Washington, is suing Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive, claiming that he was the model for the main character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and that they now owe him a cool 25% of the total revenue from the game (which would be $250 million of the $1 billion it supposedly made). He apparently met with the game designers and answered a bunch of questions about his life and they said thank you and never spoke to him again. He claims they promised to notify him if he was to be used in the game. His name is apparently listed in the credits under "talent," but that hardly seems like it's worth $250 million. He's claiming "fraud, misappropriation of likeness and copyright infringement." I haven't seen the actual complaint, but all three seem like pretty weak cases from what's been said. Perhaps there's a misappropriation of likeness issue if the guy really looks the same, but even that might be a stretch. I can't see how there's any copyright issue at all. Is he claiming copyright on his life story?
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Filed Under: copyright, cypress hill, fraud, grand theft auto, likeness
Companies: rockstar games, take two interactive


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  • icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:25pm

    Clearly...

    He's insane in the membrane after too many hits from the bong as a rock superstar....

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:42pm

      Re: Clearly...

      I could use that money because I wanna get high. Seriously though, you beat me to it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    crade (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:35pm

    He must have gotten the idea to try for this 25% from from that recent xkcd comic. If he gets anything, they should ask for 25% of it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:40pm

    what the hell?! why is this cop killer walking the streets???

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:43pm

      Re:

      Won't someone please think of the hookers.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      DS, 10 Dec 2010 @ 1:22pm

      Re:

      He must have stolen an airplane.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The Invisible Hand (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 2:38pm

      Re:

      Not just cop killer, he should also be wanted by pretty much every law enforcement organization and military forces for the following crimes (not a complete list!):

      - Grand theft auto (duh!)
      - Murder (which includes civilians, rival gang members, cops, government agents, soldiers and Big Smoke)
      - Possession of illegal firearms (unless it is legal to possess RPGs in the US?)
      - Bank robbery
      - Stealing a cistern of fuel
      - Helping to evacuate a ton (or was it two?) of "weed"
      - Piracy (not the internet kind...the high seas kind)
      - Stealing aircraft
      - Robbing a casino
      - Stealing secret (and also not so secret) military equipment
      - HORRIBLE DANCE MOVES!

      And the list goes on. He should also be wanted by many research institutions that would be interested in knowing how he can survive falling from a three story building (and just walk it off) or being shotgunned several times at almost point-blank range. Oh and surviving falling from an arbitrarily high altitude into a pool of water without so much of a scratch.

      (BTW, GTA:SA awesome :) )

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    johnjac (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 1:00pm

    His Mother is the Key

    His Mother needed this incentive to have him and raise him. Copyright is about incentives, right?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Dec 2010 @ 2:08pm

    Cops! Always trynna snatch my crops!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    BigKeithO (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 2:31pm

    Wrong Guy

    The character in question in the game is named 'Carl "CJ" Johnson. This character was based off of and voice by Young Maylay (aka Chris Bellard). GTA: SA was released in October of 2004, it is now December of 2010 - what took so long to figure out this character was based off of Michael Washington?

    Seems like a blatant money grab to me.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    bdhoro (profile), 11 Dec 2010 @ 8:55am

    Impossible

    One of the features in GTA san andreas is character personalization. To say that his likeness is used in the main character is pure nonsense because the game is made so that you can change many aspects of his appearance. So does every custom character made in the game actually appear to be his likeness? Impossible

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Scott, 12 Dec 2010 @ 10:40pm

    Needs more credibility

    The only way anyone can take this mans claim seriously is if he crashes a hummer into the lobby of their corporate headquarters and pops off some warning shots.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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