Lil Jon filed a $30 million lawsuit against Larry Flynt Productions for unauthorized use of his name and likeness for the adult film Phat Tuesday.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Atlanta, Lil Jon claims breach of contract, false advertising, infringement of right to publicity and appropriation of name and likeness. The DVD’s cover read %”Featuring Lil Jon, King of Crunk.”^
The suit also says that Jon has been deprived of royalties, revenue and reputation. His own authorized video, Lil Jon’s American Sex Series’, generated “significant income”. Had this adult film been licensed too, Jon estimates that the income from a similar video “would have doubled”.
The suit claims that the Larry Flynt Productions video prevents him from releasing his own since Phat Tuesday has “glutted the market”. Lil Jon had planned to release a Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz Vivid Vegas Party this summer, but a rep for Vivid Video has announced that although the film is finished, it is yet to be released. Jon is also planning a follow-up for early 2006, called Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz Nightclubbin.
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The rapper/producer has also noted that his name and likeness are “valuable commodities, with significant secondary meaning and goodwill attached to them.” He says that with his name being improperly used on the Phat Tuesday movie, that goodwill has been “tarnished significantly”, and estimates that the lost goodwill “is not less than $30 million.”
Larry Flynt Productions have not issued a statement.
