Man Sues Rockstar Games Over GTA: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was in my opinion the best game ever made, period. One of its biggest strengths was the myriad of characters it introduced throughout the game, including a “Straight outta Compton” kind of protagonist - Carl Johnson.

Straight Outta Los Santos

It turns out that Carl Johnson was in fact modeled after one Michael ‘Shagg’ Washington, one of the backup singers for rap group Cyprus Hill. It seems Rockstar met with Washington in 2003 to discuss life in “da hood” while working on San Andreas. Washington claims Rockstar not only used his likeness in the game, but incorporated certain aspects of his life into San Andreas without his consent. This apparently included key details like how teenagers rode cycles on the streets back in the day. This would obviously be known to anyone who’s seen movies like ‘Menace II Society’ or ‘Boyz n da Hood’, the two movies that were instrumental in crafting this game’s plot.

Washington, not being a gamer, was oblivious to one of the biggest games ever made – even after everyone and their mothers became aware of the Hot Coffee scandal. So anyway, it turns out six years later, his nephew brought this “travesty” to this attention and as expected, he’s decided to sue. He now expects to be paid nearly 25% of what the game made, which comes to $250 million. A very comfortable sum for a nobody.

Take-Two, the game’s publishers will obviously be fighting this case in court.

Via IGN

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?