After a long wait, Rockstar Games has finally released the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, incorporating numerous real-world references. This has now brought the Florida Joker onto the scene, who now wants millions from the developer due to the violation of his personal rights.
The upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI is set in the fictional state of Leonida – based on Florida. Because of this source of inspiration, a number of borrowings from the real world found their way into the game or, initially, into the first trailer, including not just places, but also people and real crimes.
A character with a heavily tattooed face can be seen in the trailer – and he seems suspiciously modeled on the Florida Joker. The real Florida Joker is called Lawrence Sullivan and his mugshot went viral online a few years ago because of these tattoos. He was given the nickname at the time because the tattoos on his face were apparently modeled on Jared Leto’s Joker in Zack Snyer’s DCU films.
Shortly after the trailer was released, Sullivan spoke out and addressed Rockstar Games in a video. In the meantime, he has even published a second video in which he publicly demands money from Rockstar Games.
Lawyer, who won a similar case for a video game publisher says his chances are very low to get any money from R*: “It’s just another guy with face tattoos.” pic.twitter.com/gRRWu2WKGd
— GTA 6 Trailer Countdown ⏳ (@GTAVI_Countdown) December 9, 2023
“We have to talk, GTA. You all stole my appearance, you took over my life,” says Sullivan, who therefore wants one to two million dollars in compensation from Rockstar Games. In the second clip, the Florida Joker compares himself directly to the similar-looking character in the trailer for GTA 6.
Lawyer Rob Freund also joined the discussion and shared his opinion. According to him, the Florida Joker’s chances of actually receiving money from Rockstar are slim. Reason: The character in the video has different tattoos, different hair and different facial features. Rockstar Games could therefore successfully argue that the character in the trailer is “just another guy with facial tattoos”.
As of now, the Florida Joker has not filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games or started any other legal dispute. Given his public appearances, that doesn’t seem to be completely off the table for him.
Grand Theft Auto VI will be released in 2025 for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5; You can find our opinion on the trailer released last week attached.
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.
