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?

Filed Under: copyright, cypress hill, fraud, grand theft auto, likeness
Companies: rockstar games, take two interactive