A man who reckons gaming publisher Rockstar took inspiration from his appearance for a character in the GTA VI trailer has hit out at the similarities on TikTok.
Lawrence Sullivan, aka the ‘Florida Joker’, posted a video to TikTok in which he tells Rockstar ‘we need to talk’.
The video comes following the release of the first trailer of the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI.
Among the characters previewed in the trailer is an individual with purple hair and face tattoos.
These include a misspelled one on the character’s forehead saying ‘impentinent’, potentially a misspelling of either ‘impenitent’ and ‘impertinent’.
But it seems that the character, who shows up only for a couple of seconds, bears a resemblance to Sullivan.
Sullivan sports a number of face tattoos which are similar to the character.
In the video, he said: “You might have seen that character on GTA VI. Just dropped the trailer today, you know they got that character with the face tattoos.
“You know who they got that inspired by? By me.
“Just look me up, Florida Joker, Miami Joker, you know what I’m talking about.”
He added: “GTA, we got to talk.”
Now fans are wondering whether Sullivan, who has previously been arrested for marijuana possession and carrying a concealed firearm, intends to sue Rockstar Games over the apparent resemblance.
One wrote: “Get your money bro.” Another replied: “Nah fr u gotta get ur check.”
It would not be the first time that someone has tried to sue Rockstar over a resemblance in the game.
Lindsay Lohan brought a case against Rockstar in which she claimed that the studio had used her image in one of the characters.
Judges at New York state’s court of appeals ultimately dismissed the case.
They ruled that the character represented the ‘style, look and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman… that is not recognisable as plaintiff’.
The case does not set a great precedent for anyone looking to pursue a civil case against Rockstar, and one fan pointed out that the character has key differences.
The fan wrote: “Rockstar used purple hair and barb[ed] wire smile instead of green hair and joker smile, they knew what they were doing.”
Sullivan’s face tattoos have earned him the nicknames the ‘Florida Joker’ and ‘Miami Joker’, as one contains a Batman reference.
He also has a tattoo which imitates a ‘Chelsea Smile’, where someone puts a blade in the victim’s mouth and cuts their cheeks, like the DC character’s iconic scars.
Sullivan’s family have spoken about how he has used his tattoos to express his artistic side.
His mom told CBS Miami: “He’s a good kid. You know. He has a lot of tattoos. But he’s a nice kid with some problems. He is mentally disabled and is handicapped.”
UNILAD has contacted Rockstar for a comment.
