New York Daily News

‘SHOW’ ME $2M

Bobby Brown sues Showtime over Whitney film

- BY STEPHEN REX BROWN AND MICHAEL GARTLAND

Count him out.

Bobby Brown is suing Showtime for more than $2 million for airing footage he says he didn’t give the company permission to use.

“Whitney: Can I Be Me” — the 2017 documentar­y about Brown’s ex-wife, legendary per former Whitney Housto — features more than 3 minutes of unauthoriz­e footage of him and their la daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Brown, 49, claims he and his daughter never signed consent forms authorizin­g use of the video, which, according to the lawsuit, was filmed prior to his 2007 divorce with Houston.

Bobbi Kristina is listed as a plaintiff through her estate.

dition to , many others in the film never signed releases for their images to be in (it),” Brown claims in the suit, which was filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

He contends he never signed releases for three of his other children, who were minors at the time, to be in the film, either, and also claims that since the film’s credits include his company, Brownhouse Entertainm­ent, its producers were suggesting they had his blessing.

Brown’s wife Whitney Houston died at 48 of an accidental drowning linked to her cocaine use in 2012. Bobbi Kristina died three years later under similar circumstan­ces at the age of 22. She was discovered unresponsi­ve in a bathtub on Jan. 31, 2015, and died in July of that year after spending months in a coma.

Brown’s lawsuit also names Passion Pictures, B2 Entertainm­ent and the British Broadcasti­ng Corp. as defendants, and claims the BBC is airing the “alleged documentar­y” in England.

“Can I Be Me” was written, co-produced and co-directed by well-known English filmmaker Nick Bloomfield, whose past documentar­y subjects include Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, serial killer Aileen Wournos and Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

Brown is seeking a restrainin­g order against Showtime, BBC and the other defendants to prevent them from marketing, promoting and distributi­ng the film.

Spokesmen for both Showtime and the BBC declined comment.

 ??  ?? A small spectator (above, with grownup pal) watches the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony from a building adjacent to Rockefelle­r Center. Kelly Pickler (far right, top) was among the stars who performed for the televised event, but amateurs also got a chance to shine: PAL Cops & Kids Chorus of New York City also sang for the crowd gathered in Midtown (far right, bottom).
A small spectator (above, with grownup pal) watches the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony from a building adjacent to Rockefelle­r Center. Kelly Pickler (far right, top) was among the stars who performed for the televised event, but amateurs also got a chance to shine: PAL Cops & Kids Chorus of New York City also sang for the crowd gathered in Midtown (far right, bottom).
 ?? PARAS GRIFFIN / GETTY IMAGES FOR BET ??
PARAS GRIFFIN / GETTY IMAGES FOR BET
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