GTA 6 Florida Joker Issues 3-Day Ultimatum and Demands an “Extra Million Dollars” From Rockstar
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Ever since the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 dropped, numerous fans have been going crazy, trying to dissect every minuscule part of it, to figure out more about the upcoming game. One obvious detail found was the resemblance of an unknown character in the trailer to Lawrence Sullivan, also known as the Florida Joker. Sullivan claims that Rockstar Games is allegedly using his likeness and went on social media to call them out and make monetary demands. His posts have gone viral on TikTok with several fans making memes out of him with some also appreciating his tenacity. Without further ado, let’s see what the fuss is all about.
Florida Joker Demands “A Mil or Two” From Rockstar
At one minute and five seconds, the trailer portrays a purple-haired prisoner covered with face tattoos with the word “Impertinent” tattooed on his forehead. Shortly after it went live, Sullivan called out Rockstar Games via TikTok, stating that this NPC greatly resembles him, specifically highlighting the ink on his face. He also showed a YouTube thumbnail that featured both this character and his viral mugshot from 2017. He demanded “a mil or two” for using his likeness in the trailer.
His post went viral among the gaming community, most of them trolling him and saying that he's hallucinating, which he also addresses in his first post against Rockstar. Roger Clark, who played Arthur Morgan’s voice actor in RDR 2 also made a video in his signature voice, mocking him for his approach. He had this to say:
“No, you don’t. You don’t need to talk to them, they’re not going to talk to you. They’ve had people like you trying to sue them for decades. They are lawyered up man. They know exactly what they can and cannot get away with. If I were you, I would use the notoriety that they just threw your way to my advantage, capitalize on it somehow. You ain’t gettin’ a job at Home Depot with that face.”
The Florida Joker Issues a 3-Day Countdown for Rockstar’s Response
In a more recent post, Sullivan, now wearing a bright orange prisoner jumpsuit and sporting purple-dyed hair says that he is giving Rockstar the biggest free marketing in the entire history of Grand Theft Auto, and for that, he demands an extra million dollars from the studio. He also mentions Rockstar’s lack of response, which is pretty characteristic of them. Eventually, he threatens them by saying that he will give them three days for a response before his lawyers “go crazy on this case”.
Additionally, the Florida Joker refers to the Lindsey Lohan lawsuit from GTA 5 (which Rockstar won) where she sued the studio for using her likeness to portray a character, specifically the girl wearing a red bikini in one of the game’s loading screens.
Although Sullivan claims that he’s got hard evidence, it is highly unlikely that he and his lawyers will win a lawsuit, provided they actually file one. While it is intriguing to see all this drama play out, all of his “efforts” would be futile if they do take it to court and Rockstar decides to carry out the fair use doctrine regarding parody laws. It is certainly not the first time that the studio has dealt with such claims and it probably won’t be the last time either.
