Lawrence Sullivan, also known as the Florida Joker, has issued a "final warning" to Rockstar Games and is demanding $5 million for the parody of him in the GTA 6 reveal trailer.
11.12.2023 - 08:43 / videogameschronicle.com
A Florida man who has tattooed his face heavily to resemble Batman character The Joker has claimed that GTA makers Rockstar owe him money for drawing on his likeness in the first GTA 6 trailer.
Lawrence Sullivan, who goes by the name ‘Florida Joker’ online, claims that Rockstar owes him up to $ 2 million for alleged use of his likeness in the record-breaking trailer.
Posting to TikTok, Sullivan said that he wanted to “talk” to the Scottish game developer over the use of his likeness.
In a later TikTok, Sullivan said, “Florida Joker ain’t having that. Ya’ll took my likeness, you took my life.”
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The offending moment in the trailer shows a brief flash of a Spanish-language news bulletin with a character in prison clothes, with purple hair, dark tattoos around his eyes and around his mouth.
While the resemblance is similar, it’s one of several viral videos shot in Florida that were seemingly referenced in the trailer.
GTA 6’s trailer has been viewed on YouTube over 101 million times,surpassing the lifetime views of GTA 5’s debut trailer, and breaking the record for the most viewed video on YouTube in 24hrs (excluding music videos, for which views are counted differently.)
Rockstar was due to premiere its GTA 6 trailer on Tuesday. However, on Monday, an anonymous X (formerly Twitter) account forced its hand by uploading a low-res and heavily watermarked version of the reveal video early.
Lawrence Sullivan, also known as the Florida Joker, has issued a "final warning" to Rockstar Games and is demanding $5 million for the parody of him in the GTA 6 reveal trailer.
Lawrence Sullivan, better known as «Florida Joker» for his extensive set of facial tattoos, has doubled down, posting a second video that asserts Rockstar owes him financial restitution for allegedly using his likeness in GTA 6.
The saga of Lawrence Sullivan, AKA the «Florida Joker», continues, as the self-appointed supervillain has again upped the ante in his effort to extract money from Rockstar Games for allegedly using his likeness in GTA 6. Dying his hair purple and donning an orange prison jumpsuit, Sullivan is adding to Rockstar's alleged bill, which he's now set at $3 million, issuing a three-day deadline for compliance before his lawyers «go crazy on this case».
Say what you like about Lawrence Sullivan, also known as the Florida Joker, but you have to admire his tenacity. After calling Rockstar out for a character in the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer who bore a resemblance to his own viral mugshot and demanding "a mil or two" in recompense, he's now upped the stakes even more, dying his hair purple and donning a prison jumpsuit in order to highlight the similarity between himself and Rockstar's character and demanding an «extra million dollars» too.
The 'Florida Joker,' who believes Rockstar stole their likeness for GTA 6, has now made themselves resemble the character in question even more.
If I had a 2023 bingo card, I can guarantee that 'the voice actor for Arthur Morgan got in a TikTok feud with the Florida Joker' would not be on it. It feels like a sentence written by putting a bunch of names on a corkboard and throwing darts at it.
Red Dead Redemption 2 star Roger Clark has told the ‘Florida Joker’ to use the extra publicity the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer has given him, rather than threatening Rockstar with lawsuits.
Red Dead Redemption 2 actor Roger Clark has suggested that the 'GTA 6 Joker' "use the notoriety" rather than seek money from Rockstar.
Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) finally got its first trailer earlier this month (December 4), and while it arrived to much applause, there was at least one person who didn't look upon it so favorably.
The Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer parodies several viral clips that have surfed around social media, as is series tradition, but one man now believes that his likeness inspired a certain in-game character and is demanding $1-2 million from Rockstar Games.
Lawrence «Florida Joker» Sullivan is demanding $2 million from Rockstar Games for allegedly using his likeness in GTA 6 without consent.
Lawrence Sullivan, also known as the Florida Joker, has demanded that Rockstar Games give him up to $2 million for using his likeness for a character in the GTA 6 reveal trailer.