Psychic Readers Network Foresees Financial Ruin for Rockstar, Files GTA: Vice City Suit
Apparently, the Miss Cleo-like character voiced by the Miss Cleo actress was too much like the 'psychic' Miss Cleo for the network's liking.
When Grand Theft Auto: Vice City launched almost 15 years ago, no one could have predicted how much cash the game and the series would eventually rake in. However, the Psychic Readers Network foretells of a problem with those earnings. It has filed a lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two interactive and wants a chunk of that cash.
The problem stems from the depiction of a character in the game known as Auntie Poulet, which apparently is too close to the Psychic Readers Network's Miss Cleo. Youree Dell Harris, the actress who portrayed the TV psychic and who died last year, even voiced Poulet, which is her only videogame credit. The suit, which was filed in Florida federal court, alleges that the network invested more than $100 million in developing and promoting the character.
“These striking similarities are more than substantial. In particular, Defendants copied Miss Cleo’s vibrantly colored caftans and turbans, as well as the patois and mysticism of Miss Cleo, in designing and animating her doppelganger Auntie Poulet,” the suit maintains (via The Wrap). “Both Miss Cleo and Auntie Poulet are said to be trained in Voodoo, have a strong link to the occult, are of Afro-Caribbean origin, and reside in South Florida.”
While the suit alleges copyright infringement and seeks unspecified damages, we see dollar signs in the eyes of the PRN executives. Based on our spirit guides (and previous failed suits against Rockstar by Lindsay Lohan and Karen "mob wife" Gravano), we foresee an unfavorable end to the suit for these executives.
Now, for an extra $20, we can channel in the spirit of Tommy Vercetti to vouch that he had never heard of Miss Cleo, and unless Cleo was a Haitian gang matriarch, he has no clue what voodoo these PRN people do do.
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John Keefer posted a new article, Psychic Readers Network Foresees Financial Ruin for Rockstar, Files GTA: Vice City Suit
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