Despite being well received by critics and making nearly $200 million worldwide, not everyone is a fan of the recently released Straight Outta Compton film.
In particular, the film seemed to rub former N.W.A manager Jerry Heller the wrong way, as he is suing NBCUniversal, director F. Gary Gray, Legendary Pictures, Straight Outta Compton’s screenwriters, as well as Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E’s estate, and the rest of the infamous rap group for $110 million in damages, according to Rolling Stones.
Alleging that the biopic did not ask for his permission to use his name and likeness in the film, Heller is suing for defamation, as well as claiming copyright infringement over many of the film’s scenes that he claim were taken from illicitly from his 2006 book, Ruthless: A Memoir.
In Heller’s complaint, he claims that “The Film is littered with false statements that harm the reputation of Plaintiff and aim to ridicule and lower him in the opinion of the community and to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.”
Heller, played by Paul Giamatti in Straight Outta Compton, played a pivotal role in the cultivation of the N.W.A group in becoming one of the most seminal rap group in the 1980s, first signing Eazy-E and then managing the rest of the group before an acrimonious departure. In the film, Heller is portrayed as a villain who took advantage of Eazy-E and Ice Cube’s financial windfall and breaking up the group.
In the his suit, Heller is seeking $110 million in damages, with $35 million in monetary damages and $75 million in punitive and exemplary damages, stating, “The larger the success of the film, the greater the damages to Plaintiff, who has been and continues to be defamed, ridiculed, and robbed of his personal and financial rights to the extent that the intentional and egregious behavior of Defendants demands the imposing of punitive damages.”
Deadline reported that a spokesperson with NBCUniversal declined to make a comment regarding the lawsuit.