Rockstar Sued Over Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Psychic Character Likeness

GTA Vice City Xbox
GTA Vice City

File this one under somebody needs to afford a new conservatory: the owners of a TV psychic’s character are suing Rockstar over her supposed likeness in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The Vice City that came out in 2002. The year when Daniel Bedingfield was still a thing and the first Ice Age movie came out. That long ago.

Psychic Readers Network, who you might remember from such hits as Seven Psychicpaths and The Shinning, have brought a lawsuit to Rockstar over an alleged copyright infringement of the truly unforgettable Auntie Poulet, whose involvement in Vice City changed the course of GTA games forever.

Take a look.

The lawsuit claims that Rockstar used the likeness and an imitation of PNR’s Miss Cleo character and have effectively weaselled them out of half a billion dollars. It evidently wasn’t the first time players jumped in a car and heard Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean that helped Vice City to sell so many copies, it was the appearance of a polygonal clairvoyant.

There are certainly similarities between Miss Cleo and Auntie Poulet, especially as Miss Cleo herself, Youree Harris, provided the voice work for the character. Still, the fact that they sat on their grievances for fifteen years isn’t going to help their case. It smacks of patiently waiting for the game to sell enough copies before hoping to capitalise on its success with a lawsuit which is probably going to be thrown all the way out.

Rockstar’s statement:

“These claims are entirely meritless and completely ridiculous. We will vigorously defend ourselves with regard to this matter.”

While it’s not quite as cut-and-dry as the Lindsay Lohan case, it’s hard to see a judge siding with PNR when Auntie Poulet could quite easily fall into the realms of satire. I will see you all in 2018 when Joe Pesci comes at Rockstar for every Italian mobster in GTA III.

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