While Grand Theft Auto 5 has been in hot water with gamers for not delivering on the promised heist missions (yet), the franchise has a whole has come under fire for a completely different reason. If you'll remember, Lindsay Lohan is suing the franchise and parent company Take-Two Interactive for including her allegedly likeness in their most recent game.
Now obviously the character in question, a Los Santos socialite named Lacey Jonas, is not an outright representation of Lindsay Lohan, but the Mean Girls actress claims it still attempts to parody her. And as a result she is seeking damages for what she deems an insulting depiction.
Just recently, however, Take-Two has fired back, claiming that Lohan's lawsuit is a blatant attempt for publicity and that there is no merit to her claims. The publisher called the suit frivolous back when Lohan filed it in July, but it appears they are now ready to break out the big guns. Not only does Take-Two want Lohan to drop the lawsuit, but also they want her to pay their legal fees.
While there may be some elements of Lohan's real life persona in the Lacey Jonas character, she is hardly a Lindsay Lohan parody. Rather, Jonas is more a parody of all Hollywood socialites – Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, etc. – wrapped up into a single character. From our perspective the only direct connections between the Grand Theft Auto 5 character and Lindsay Lohan are the fact she's blond and has somewhat of a gravely voice.
However, with Grand Theft Auto 5 moving billions of dollars worth of product since launch, we're not surprised to see a few shameful swipes at Rockstar Games' haul. Anytime one company's profit is widely publicized then somebody usually steps up to assert why some of it is theirs. It happened with Oculus Rift (litigation ongoing) and we wouldn’t be surprised if it happened with Twitch, who was recently acquired by Amazon.
But if Lohan loses or drops or suit, that may help clear out many of the other frivolous game-related suits that pop up every year. We'll have to wait and see.
Do you think Lindsay Lohan has a case? Should she drop the suit?
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Source: AP
Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina