Four months after suing SYFY Media Productions and Asylum Entertainment for $100 million in damages, actress Tara Reid decided to drop the case.
Earlier this week, actress Tara Reid dropped her lawsuit against the Sharknado producers. Just days ago, she submitted a batch of new documents to the court on April 18 saying she was dropping the case. She filed the $100 million suit against the producers over allegations of “false endorsement and misappropriation of celebrity likeness, as well as common law wrongful appropriation of likeness and breach of written contract.”
Reid’s decision to drop the lawsuit comes four months after she initially filed the suit. According to documents filed back on December 6, 2018, Reid, one of the stars of the Sharknado movie franchise, accused the producers of the film of “misappropriating her likeness and image for a commercial purpose without her consent, including slot machines and alcoholic beverages.”
The suit stated:
“[Reid] alleges that defendants and each of them without her knowledge and prior written consent misappropriated her likeness for the commercial purpose of endorsing by implication gambling products and alcoholic beverages.”
Her suit argued the defendants “wrongfully licensed the rights to use Tara Reid’s likeness (which they do not own) to manufacturers of slot machines, gambling products, and beer makers, who in turn have marketed their products with her likeness, and continue to wrongfully trade and profit therefrom.” Reid’s suit also noted that, according to her November 2016 ‘Performer Engagement Agreement’ for Sharknado 5, a clause stated, “ in no event shall Performer’s likeness be used for any merchandising in association with alcohol, tobacco, gambling, hygiene, or sexual products without Performer’s prior written approval.”
As a result, she sued SYFY Media Productions and Asylum Entertainment for $100 million in damages after alleging the producers and other defendants made millions of dollars from her likeness, which they used in the “marketing, sale, lease, and distribution of Sharknado slot machines.”
When Reid was first approached to star in the franchise, she thought it “was the stupidest movie ever when she was shown the script.” In fact, she almost turned down the role because she wasn’t impressed by the script or movie concept and said at the time:
“I remember when I received the script, I was like ‘This is the stupidest movie I’ve ever read in my life. And I was like, ‘I’m not going to do it as this is just re*****d as sharks are there in LA and taking over Beverly Hills,’ and I thought what a stupid movie.”
In the end, it was her family and friends who convinced her to go through with the role. Since then, she’s gone on to star in all six Sharknado films.
Sources:
Tara Reid Drops $100 Million Lawsuit Against Sharknado Producers
Tara Reid reverses course and drops $100M lawsuit against Sharknado producers
Join the conversation!