Cypress Hill back-up singer Michael “Shagg” Washington wants a piece of that lucrative Grand Theft Auto franchise pie–a $250 million piece, to be exact.
Shagg is claiming that Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive Software borrowed his life story to create one installment of the successful video game series which has brought in a total of about $1 billion.
]
CourthouseNews.com is reporting that Washington claims he was introduced by a friend to the developers of GTA seven years ago, and they interviewed him about “street life”:
“The plaintiff, who had led a troubled life in his youth, responded
to their questions and related details of his life. The plaintiff told
them about details of his street life including how the teen-agers in
his gang rode around on bicycles … After almost two hours of
questioning which covered many topics of gang and street life, the
meeting ended and the plaintiff was allowed to leave,” according to the
complaint.
Washington then alleges that the developers had told him if they were to use his likeness and story in the video game, he would be notified–and then last July, he learned about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and its protagonist Carl “CJ” Johnson.
The complaint further states that “as the lead character, profits attributable to the use of his image, and for the use of his story are twenty-five percent of profits earned.”
This particular installment of GTA is set within three cities inside a fictional state called San Andreas, based loosely on Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. The plot involves CJ seeking vengeance for his mother's murder, only to find former friends and family in a chaotic state.
