The man nicknamed “The Florida Joker” is now threatening to sue Rockstar Games over the GTA VI trailer. Legally named Lawrence Sullivan, he went viral after calling out Rockstar over a character in the trailer. According to Mr Sullivan, this character appears to take inspiration from his colourful appearance. Now the “Joker” has given Rockstar just a few days to pay up or he’s taking legal action.
The origin story
We reported last week “The Florida Joker” wanted to “talk” with Rockstar Games. He felt like Rockstar had used his likeness without permission. From the dyed hair, orange jail outfit, and face tattoos, many people saw this as one of many fun Florida moments captured in the trailer.
He was not the only person from real life events that appeared to inspire parts of the GTA 6 trailer, we covered those here. The 29-year-old man was arrested for showing his gun off in the air in 2017.
Many GTA fans were vocal and told Lawrence about Lindsay Lohan’s failed lawsuit against Rockstar. The actor lost her case and appeal in which she argued Rockstar were inspired by her on two occasions in GTA V: a beachgoer in artwork and an NPC in story mode. Following the many comments from fans, Mr Sullivan responded with multiple TikToks which we also covered here. He exclaimed
“GTA, we gotta talk. Or not you gotta give me like a mil or two. Holla at me Rockstar Entertainment, Rockstar Games, Rockstar Enterprise. Florida Joker ain’t having that. You all took my likeness.”
Lawrence Sullivan
The Joker hits back, again
In a brand new TikTok video, Lawrence Sullivan has set a countdown for Rockstar Games. He has since dyed his hair purple and is wearing an orange jail outfit. Potentially, he’s done this to show that the character in the GTA VI trailer looks more like him now.
Sullivan starts off by saying he’s giving GTA the “biggest free marketing you’ve got in the entire history of this GTA game”. Due to this, he wants an extra $1 million on top of the “mil or two” he requested last week.
The Florida Joker also says Rockstar are “taking forever to respond” and that “he’s not playing.” The man then issues Rockstar with a 3 day countdown. “You’ve got 3 days. 3 days before my lawyers go crazy on this case. This is not like the Lindsey Lohan case. I got hard evidence. Hard evidence.” You can watch his full TikTok here.
UPDATE on December 19th:
Sullivan has put out yet another TikTok exclaiming Rockstar did not respond to him after the 3 day countdown. He also shares his reasons why Lindsey Lohan lost and he has a better case. Mr Sullivan then says:
I got a case. They took my likeness, they took my life, they took my story and made it into a video game. So GTA, those 3 days are up. We’re building the biggest case on you. So if you don’t contact me within the next 48 hours we’re taking legal actions. We’re not playing with you. I gave you so much publicity. Millions of millions of people are seeing you. I’m getting harassed. Real GTA 6 Joker. I’m not getting paid for this. I want my pain and suffering money now. Now GTA.
Lawrence Sullivan
You can watch his video here.
We’ll see how Take-Two’s legal team deal with this one as usually these go in the favour of Take-Two and Rockstar Games.
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1 Comment
“The likeness of any character to persons, etc, etc..”.