Lawrence Sullivan, nicknamed “the Joker from Florida,” is accusing Rockstar Games, the game's publisher, of taking inspiration from him for a character without seeking his consent.
“GTA, we need to talk.” If the long-awaited trailer for GTA VI, revealed earlier this week, excited fans of the video game and made them enjoy recognizing the (numerous) references to real events or characters, there is one , who didn't like him much. Lawrence Sullivan, nicknamed the “Florida Joker” by the media due to his physical resemblance to the villain's character in Batman, accused Rockstar Games, the game's publisher, of taking inspiration from him without his consent.
In a video released after the release of the GTA VI trailer that went viral on TikTok (more than a million views), Lawrence Sullivan directly challenged the game's publisher: “You know they have a character with tattoos on their face “Do you know who inspired them? From me!” he said, showing his tattoos on his face. “Look at me, the Joker from Florida, you know what I'm talking about,” he adds, concluding with a “GTA, we need to talk.” This American became famous on the Internet in 2017 after being arrested in 2017 for wearing a concealed mask Gun was arrested and his unlikely appearance (green hair and tattooed face) caused a stir.
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Up to date – his TikTok account was only recently created and only contains videos related to GTA VI – the 30-year-old returned to the spotlight in a video published on Friday. “For everyone who says I'm hallucinating and I'm not the Joker from GTA VI, but look. It's me. This is the person they took inspiration from. Do you see that? That’s me,” he said, pointing to a picture of the figure and a picture of him. “You took my image, you took my life,” he says, repeating “GTA, we need to talk” and saying he wants “a million or two” from the video game publisher.
His application has little chance of success. Although the resemblance between Lawrence Sullivan and the character in the game is undeniable, they do not share the same hair or the exact same facial tattoos. And Lindsay Lohan's jurisprudence shouldn't appease “the Florida Joker.” In late 2013, the actress filed a complaint against Rockstar Games for invasion of privacy, arguing that there was a similarity between a female character in GTA V and her. It was ultimately dismissed by the New York Court of Appeals in 2018. In 2010, Ferrari sued Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, claiming that certain GTA IV cars looked a little too similar to its own creations. In 2014, the Court of Cassation ruled in favor of the video game and rejected the allegations of counterfeiting.