Perhaps the strangest complaint in his long list of issues, is that the film didn’t use a fake name for his character – his suggestion was “Gary Beller”.
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Straight Outta Compton has grossed $199.6 million worldwide since its August release. The group was assembled by Eazy-Z, who co-founded Ruthless Records with Heller.
As TMZ also points out, Heller and his lawyers sat in the very front row of the film’s premiere in Beverly Hills.
According to the lawsuit, Heller met rappers Eazy E, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube in the late 1980s and the trio, along with other rappers, subsequently formed N.W.A, an abbreviation of Niggaz Wit Attitudes.
He also alleges he did not withhold $75,000 from Ice Cube, wasn’t fired by Eazy-E and wasn’t out having lobster brunches while the contracts were being finalised.
Former N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller wants the world to know he’s not really a “bad guy”. They were nearly like father and son.
Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E and Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller in Straight Outta Compton. Although no one involved with the film has given an official reaction to the lawsuit specifically, when Rolling Stone asked Ice Cube what he thought Heller would think of the movie, Cube replied, “I don’t care”.
What do you think of Jerry Heller’s lawsuit? “The larger the success of the film, the greater the damages to Plaintiff”. Heller asserts claims for defamation, misappropriation of likeness, tortious interference, breach of contract, conversion and copyright infringement. The suit is seeking $35 million in compensatory damages plus $75 million in punitive damages, for a whopping $110 million total.
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ET has reached out to Ice Cube and Dr. Dre for comment regarding Heller’s lawsuit.
