Jerry Heller—the lawyer who worked with Eazy-E to get Ruthless Records and N.W.A off the ground—warned people that he would watch Straight Outta Compton with his lawyers. He was insinuating that he would sue if the biopic portrayed him inaccurately.
Well, he's keeping his word. According to TMZ, Heller is suing nearly every person and company connected to the movie for $110 million.
That's right. He's suing Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, the estate of Eazy-E, the studio, NBC Universal and a boatload of other people. He says the movie used information from his book without permission (like the scene where Suge Knight beat up Eazy-E to get him to sign over his rights to Death Row); lied about how he withheld a $75,000 check from Ice Cube; lied that he was fired by Eazy-E; and lied that he tried to coerce Dr. Dre and Ice Cube into signing unfair contracts.
Heller is suing for $35 million in compensatory damages and $75 million in punitive damages.
For more of black Twitter, check out The Chatterati on The Root and follow The Chatterati on Twitter.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.