‘Florida’s Joker’ alleges Grand Theft Auto 6 used his likeness
A Florida man who tattooed his face to resemble Batman’s archnemesis, the Joker, has accused the Grand Theft Auto video game of using his likeness in a promotional trailer.
Lawrence Sullivan’s mugshot achieved internet fame in 2017 when Miami police arrested him for allegedly pointing a gun at passing cars. His tattoos and green hair earned him the moniker of “Florida Joker”.
On 4 December, Rockstar Games released the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6, the latest installment in its popular crime-themed video game series. The 93m views generated by the trailer’s debut smashed the record for most by a non-music video in its first day on YouTube, according to Variety.
Many scenes in the trailer harkened back to viral news stories in Florida, where the game is set, including one scene involving a man with facial tattoos that closely resemble Sullivan’s and with purple hair.
On Saturday Sullivan posted a video on TikTok saying anyone who fails to see the similarity is “out your goddamn nuggets” and asked for $1m or $2m in compensation.
“GTA, we got to talk – if not, you got to give me like a mil or two,” Sullivan says, referring to the game by its initials.
He compares a screen showing one of his mugshots to a screenshot of the character in the trailer.
“That’s me – that’s the person they got their inspiration from me,” Sullivan remarks on the video.
“Florida Joker ain’t having that. Y’all took my likeness. Y’all took my life.”
In a 2018 interview with the Florida news station WFLA, Sullivan said tragedies in his life – from the 2014 murder of a friend to the failure of his relationship with his finance – made him feel a kinship to the Joker character, particularly Heath Ledger’s portrayal in The Dark Knight.
“Reborn, re-death type of stuff,” Sullivan, who was in custody after missing court-ordered psychiatric appointments, said. “The old Lawrence you saw with the plain face, he’s dead. This is the new Lawrence-slash-Joker.”
Business Insider reported that Sullivan may not stand much of a chance in court against Rockstar Games should he try to collect money over his likeness through a lawsuit. The actor Lindsay Lohan sued the company in 2014, claiming a character in Grand Theft Auto 5 mirrored her appearance, but the state supreme court of New York dismissed the lawsuit in 2016, ruling the company never mentioned her name, used her photo or featured her acting.
The court added that Lohan would still not have been owed compensation even if it found her likeness had been used, arguing that advertising laws do not apply to works of fiction in the same way. “The images are not of Lohan herself, but merely the avatar in the game that Lohan claims is a depiction of her,” it said.