Detroit Sueing Dr. Dre Again…
Associated Press reports five current and former city officials have sued rapper Dr. Dre and others involved in the production of a DVD, saying their privacy was invaded.
Defendants in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, include Up In Smoke Tour headliner Dr. Dre; Magic Johnson, whose company helped produce the tour; AOL Time Warner, which distributed and marketed the DVD; Best Buy, which sold it; and
Panavision, which provided cameras for the concert staff.
The lawsuit alleges that a hidden camera and microphones were secretly used to intercept, eavesdrop and record, exchanges between city officials and tour organizers.
Up in Smoke was a major rap tour that came to Detroit and Auburn Hills in the summer of 2000. Officials in both cities threatened to punish tour organizers if they showed a sexually explicit video as part of the show. Detroit officials succeeded in keeping the video from being shown, but later paid Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young $25,000 and apologized for infringing on his free speech rights.
The exchange between the city leaders and tour organizers in a back room at Joe Louis Arena became a bonus track on a DVD released after the tour.
“What would you do if somebody took your image and put it on a T-shirt or a product and started making millions of dollars off it without your consent?” attorney Glenn Oliver told the Detroit Free Press for a Thursday story.
Herschel Fink, whose law firm also is being sued and represents Dr. Dre, called the charges “basically comic.”
Thanks to WcKillaz
