Grand Theft Auto VI is already becoming a controversial game thanks to some people claiming Rockstar Games has stolen their likeness. Rockstar Games is one of the most beloved, but also controversial video game developers out there. The studio is known for its incredibly mature games which often let you do whatever you want. You can commit murder, steal cars, have sex, do drugs, and live a life of excess. That made the studio an easy target for mainstream media, politicians, and more. With Grand Theft Auto V, the immense success of the game saw people like Lindsay Lohan accusing Rockstar Games of basically using her likeness in Grand Theft Auto V. The lawsuit didn’t work out in Lohan’s favor, as you might imagine.
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Now, Lawrence “Florida Joker” Sullivan, a man who was arrested in 2017 and went viral for having a ton of wild tattoos that somewhat resembled the Joker, is going after Rockstar for similar things. In the newly-released Grand Theft Auto VI trailer, we see a bunch of chaotic members of the population in Vice City from road ragers, twerking women, and criminals. One of the people we see bares a striking resemblance to Florida Joker and now, the man is hoping Rockstar will reach out to him and is seeking $2 million from the developer for this. The man posted a TikTok pointing out the resemblance and it has more so resulted in people making fun of him.
“We got to talk, GTA. We gotta talk. Or not, you got to give me like a mil or two,” Sullivan said. “[…] Florida Joker ain’t having that. Y’all took my likeness, Y’all took my life.”
Roger Clark, the actor of Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, roasted Sullivan stating that Rockstar Games is “lawyered up” and knows exactly what they can and can’t do. He noted that a ton of people have played this game before and it never works out in their favor. The actor went on to state it would be in Sullivan’s best interests to ride this wave of notoriety into something more positive instead of trying to intimidate Rockstar Games.
Rockstar Games makes full use of parody in the Grand Theft Auto games and have been doing this for long enough that you can probably bet that they’ve over-analyzed every detail with their lawyers. Whether Sullivan gets anywhere with his claims remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t really bet on it given history hasn’t been to kind to similar people.
