SUMMARY
- GTA 6 trailer opened with a lot of hype which it managed to meet. It made a lot of references and parodies of real life incidents.
- Apparently, one of the sections of the video did not sit well with the 'Florida Joker' who claimed he will sue Rockstar for using his likeness in the video.
Grand Theft Auto 6‘s much-anticipated first reveal trailer premiered on December 5, 2023, and fans immediately began drawing parallels between the outrageous actions of Vice City’s residents with actual news accounts, such as one about a tattooed criminal. According to reports, Sullivan, who went viral with his mugshot in 2017 and earned the name “Florida Joker,” looks similar to this criminal.
Although the character in question from Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t a perfect replica of the Florida Joker, Lawrence Sullivan soon claimed that Rockstar had stolen his likeness and that he and the developer “needed to talk” shortly after the video was released. Sullivan also uploaded another video to better resemble the character from Grand Theft Auto 6 and dyed his hair purple.
The Florida Joker would keep requesting money from Rockstar as the weeks passed; to make his point, he would even tint his hair the same shade as the GTA 6 character. Lawrence Sullivan is suing Rockstar Games for $5 million.
Florida Joker’s lawsuit with Rockstar Games
Roger Clark, the hero of Red Dead Redemption 2, and other experts have noted how unlikely it is that Sullivan will succeed in any future lawsuit against Rockstar.
In one similar instance, actress Lindsay Lohan filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games in 2014, claiming that the company had exploited her likeness to create the Grand Theft Auto 5 character Lacey Jonas. In addition, Lohan claimed that Rockstar Games had used her face, hairdo, and even the products in her clothing brand to recreate her image in the game.
A now purple haired Florida Joker has escalated his complaint about the GTA 6 trailer, threatening a lawsuit against Rockstar Games unless he is paid money by the company. https://t.co/3ArB9UwnuN pic.twitter.com/PavFzPIEFb
— IGN (@IGN) January 1, 2024
However, Lohan and Gravano appealed the dismissal of their claims in February 2018, taking the case to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. According to New York civil rights law, the two women argued that Rockstar Games had violated their privacy. But by a vote of 6-0, the Courts of Appeals unanimously rejected this proposal.
In another instance, a number of message forums and subreddits came to the notion that the character on the cover of GTA 5 was in fact inspired by the likeness of prominent American model Kate Upton.
But Shelby Welinder, a model, later disclosed that she was hired by Rockstar to appear on the cover of GTA 5, disproving that as well. Welinder shared an image of the invoice for her role as a model for the game’s cover on a since-deleted Instagram post.
Therefore, it’s unlikely that the Florida Joker will prevail in any legal battle with the developer over Grand Theft Auto 6 because of Rockstar Games has a prominent history of winning such legal battles.