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.
07.12.2023 - 13:41 / pcgamer.com
Innocent, dew-eyed babe that I am, I had no idea that the heavily tatted criminal who makes a brief appearance in the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer looked like a real guy. But he does, and now I will live with that knowledge until my last days. He resembles Florida Joker—real name Lawrence Sullivan—a resident of, uh, Florida with face tattoos and hair inspired by Jared Leto's portrayal of the Joker, who originally went viral for a 2017 mugshot.
Turns out the real Florida Joker might be less than thrilled about seemingly becoming a figure of fun in one of Rockstar's trailers, because he's taken to TikTok (via IGN) to tell the studio that he wants a word.
«You might have seen that character on GTA 6, [they] just dropped the trailer today,» says Sullivan in the video, «You know, they got that character with the face tattoos, you know who they got that inspired by. By me! Just look me up: Florida Joker, Miami Joker, you know what I'm talking about.» Sullivan ends the short clip by addressing Rockstar directly: «GTA, we gotta talk.» I've reached out to Sullivan to ask if he's been in touch with Rockstar, and I'll update this piece if I hear back.
Most of Sullivan's TikTok uploads since then have consisted of screen recordings, most of which show people either discussing the GTA 6 trailer in general or the Florida Joker parody specifically. It's honestly a bit hard to discern what Sullivan's intention is, but I'd imagine he's attempting to collate examples of other people noting the similarity between the GTA 6 character and himself in case there's ever a chance to get some money out of the whole thing.
Then again, one of his uploads is just 14 seconds of Poltergst's Move It over a still image of himself in court, so maybe I don't really understand anything that's going on.
Either way, I'm sceptical that the OG Florida Joker will end up getting much from his not-quite-cameo in GTA 6. While the figure in the trailer looks (to me) clearly inspired by Sullivan, he doesn't actually bear any of the same tattoos or the same hair, so I'm not sure Sullivan could really argue he's been featured in a game without his consent. Plus, Rockstar has quite a lot of money and, I have to imagine, some very good lawyers. I think this might be a fight the Joker can't win.
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.
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.
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.