Infamously troubled starlet Lindsay Lohan has made it to her 28th birthday, despite a troubled history of drug abuse and car accidents, and celebrated the event by opening a law suit against the makers of Grand Theft Auto V for making a character she claims is based on her. The character, Lacey Jonas, offers an unflattering representation: the cartoon character in the game is obsessed with the paparazzi, and furthermore one mission in the game requires the player to sneak into her hotel room, which resembles L.A.’s Chateau Marmont, scene of the real Lohan’s real life troubles regarding a $46,000 unpaid bill, for which she was banned, and filming the cartoon representation having sex.
“The portraits of the Plaintiff (Lohan) incorporated her image, likeness, clothing, outfits, Plaintiff’s clothing line products, ensemble in the forms of hats, hair style, sunglasses, jean shorts worn by the Plaintiff that were for sale to the public at least two years” before the game’s release, claimed the papers brought against the games makers, Rockstar and Take Two Interactive, as reported by Contactmusic.com.
The Lacey Jonas character in the game makes her debut ducking paparazzi, and announcing, “Can you give me a ride past them, PLEASE!? I’m hardly wearing any makeup. This is a disaster. I’m so f—–g fat. How’s my hair? Do I look cute?”
The case has been filed at the Manhattan Supreme Court, and may have the unfortunate consequence of drawing attention to the Jonas character without rendering a favorable outcome for Lohan, considering that it is not copyright infringement to make a parody, which the Jonas character could arguably be claimed to be. The case stands on the points that the cartoon character somewhat resembles the actress and that the sex scene resembles L.A.’s Chateau Marmont. Whether this is enough to establish a similarity is a question in itself, let alone whether it counts as a parody.