‘Florida Joker’ whose mugshot gained extensive attention due to his facial tattoos, has alleged that Rockstar Games, the creator of the Grand Theft Auto video game series, used his appearance in the trailer for the latest version. He is now demanding $2 million from Rockstar Games for purportedly using his likeness in GTA 6 without consent.
The release of the GTA 6 trailer broke the previous record for maximum views of a non-music video in its first 24 hours on YouTube. It collected more than 93 million, according to Variety.
Soon after the trailer release, viewers observed that a scene featuring an alligator walking into a convenience store, and another where police chase a naked guy. Florida Joker a.k.a Lawrence Sullivan in a video on TikTok remarked that a tattooed guy that features in the videos is based on him.
Mr Sullivan’s mugshot went viral in 2017 when Miami police detained him for pointing a gun at passing vehicles. In his latest video on TikTok, he tells spectators that anybody who doesn’t see the similarity between himself and the tattooed guy in the promo is “out your goddamn nuggets”.
He adds, “GTA we got to talk. If not, you got to give me like a mil(lion) or two.” In the video, Sullivan points to a photograph of his mugshot next to a screenshot of the promo showing a game character with alike face tattoos.
He says, “Florida Joker ain’t having that. Y’all took my likeness. Y’all took my life. That’s me. That’s the person they got their inspiration from. That’s me.”
As yet, no update from either Rockstar or Sullivan confirms either party has reached out, or if a compromise has been done.
