A cell phone with the Grand Theft Auto logo (left), and a mugshot of Lawrence Sullivan.
Getty Images, Associated Press
Lawrence Sullivan’s mugshot went viral in 2017 for his Joker face tattoos.Sullivan says his likeness was used in the GTA 6 trailer, which features several viral Florida moments.Lindsay Lohan previously sued Rockstar Games for using her likeness in GTA 5.
The Florida “Joker,” whose mugshot went viral for his face tattoos, has accused Rockstar Games, the maker of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, of using his likeness in the latest iteration’s trailer.
The release of the GTA 6 trailer on Monday crushed the previous record for most views of a non-music video in its first 24 hours on YouTube, generating more than 93 million, according to Variety. Influencer Mr. Beast set the previous record in August with his “Every Country On Earth Fights for $250,000” video, which saw almost 60 million views in its first 24 hours, according to the outlet.
After the GTA 6 trailer’s release, viewers quickly noticed that several of the scenes resembled famously viral incidents in Florida, where the game is based. There’s a scene featuring an alligator walking into a convenience store, for instance, and another where police chase a naked man, according to Kotaku.
Among those who noticed the obvious nods to some of Florida’s unique cultural moments was Lawrence Sullivan, whose mugshot went viral in 2017 when Miami police arrested him for pointing a gun at passing vehicles. In a video posted to TikTok, Sullivan said that anyone who doesn’t see the resemblance between himself and the tattooed man in the trailer is “out your goddamn nuggets.”
“GTA we got to talk,” Sullivan says in the video. “If not, you got to give me like a mil or two.”
In the video, Sullivan points to a photo of his mugshot next to a screenshot of the trailer showing a game character with similar face tattoos.
“Florida Joker aint having that,” Sullivan says in the video. “Y’all took my likeness. Y’all took my life.”
“That’s me. That’s the person they got their inspiration from,” Sullivan says. “That’s me.”
Following another arrest for missing court-ordered psychiatric appointments in 2018, Sullivan told WFLA in Tampa that his tattoos have personal significance because he sees the Joker character as a “rose” who overcame tragedies in his life, similar to himself.
“That old Lawrence you saw with the plain face, he’s dead,” he told the outlet. This is the new Lawrence slash Joker.”
Rockstar Games has faced likeness claims in other GTA titles
If precedent is anything to go by, it’s unlikely Sullivan will have much luck extracting a financial reward from Rockstar.
In 2014, actor Lindsay Lohan sued Rockstar Games, claiming the character Lacey Jones, who appears on the opening screen of GTA 5, looked, sounded, and dressed like her, according to the BBC.
The New York Supreme Court dismissed Lohan’s suit in 2016, finding that Rockstar “never referred to Lohan by name or used her actual name in the video game, never used Lohan herself as an actor for the video game, and never used a photograph of Lohan.”
Additionally, the court said in its ruling that even if it had found the depiction to be close enough to Lohan, she would not have had a claim because the court ruled the game was a work of fiction and thus not covered under laws that cover advertising.
“Further, Lohan’s claim that her image was used in advertising materials for the video game should also be dismissed,” the court said. “The images are not of Lohan herself, but merely the avatar in the game that Lohan claims is a depiction of her.”