The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI made a lot of waves and contained a number of references to real events. The so-called Flordia Joker, who is characterized by his facial tattoos, was certainly best known through the video – and he continues to fight against Rockstar Games because of the trailer and wants to see money!
The story about Lawrence Sullivan aka the “Florida Joker” against Rockstar Games is entering the next round. Sullivan became known in 2017 because of his mugshot because he had his face tattooed like the Joker from the DC Universe. Rockstar Games apparently used this image for a character in the trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI – and Sullivan therefore sees his personal rights violated.
Shortly after the trailer release, he demanded one to two million dollars from Rockstar Games for this, even though the character’s tattoos in the video differ more clearly from those of the Florida Joker in reality. In another public statement, Sullivan followed up and threatened Rockstar with its lawyers. A legal expert from the USA had already said that it had relatively little chance of success, which is probably why Rockstar Games hasn’t reacted much to the Florida Joker yet.
Sullivan, on the other hand, appears to be continuing his campaign against Rockstar Games for “stealing” his personality. He has now published another video on his TikTok account and is again demanding money from Rockstar Games. It was “the final warning” before he and his legal team took further action against Rockstar.
According to the Florida Joker, his lawyers have already sent a letter to Rockstar Games and expect a response by Sullivan’s birthday on January 11, 2024. In the video he also states that he has recently been harassed because of the parody in the trailer for GTA 6. This is also why he is now demanding $5 million in damages from Rockstar in order to avoid a legal dispute.
Such lawsuits and events are nothing new for Rockstar Games. In 2014, a lawsuit brought by American actress Lindsay Lohan caused a stir. She claimed her appearance was stolen for the character Lacey Jonas in GTA 5. The proceedings dragged on until 2018 and ended in favor of Rockstar. In contrast, Lawrence Sullivan repeatedly claims that his case and that of Lohan are not comparable; He has “hard evidence” that the character in the new GTA trailer was copied from his mugshot. We will of course keep you updated as the matter progresses!
We had to wait a long time, but now Rockstar Games has released the first trailer for GTA 6. Felix, Andi and Basti looked particularly closely and summarized all the information and theses about the trailer for you in this talk.
