Goodfellas actor Frank Sivero sues The Simpsons for $285 million for stealing his likeness, ACTOR Frank Sivero is suing Fox for $285 million for using his likeness as the basis for a character featured in The Simpsons.
The character, Louie, is a member of the Springfield Mafia that originally appeared on the show over 23 years ago.
Sivero is claiming Louie is a rip-off of Frankie Carbone, a character he played in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 movie classic Goodfellas.
According to Sivero, this isn’t just a baseless cash grab. Apparently, Sivero lived next to a couple of The Simpsons writers in 1989, prior to the character making his way to the small screen.
The official complaint reads:
“During this time, both writers knew who Sivero was, and they saw each other almost every day. They knew he was developing the character he was to play in the movie Goodfellas, a movie Sivero did in 1989. In fact, they were aware the entire character of Frankie Carbone was created and developed by Sivero, who based this character on his own personality.”
Sivero does look an awful lot like the cartoon character. But, is that worth $250 million? If he does win the lawsuit, he could certainly buy a lot of mink coats.
Representatives for 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox Television Studios, have not yet responded to requests for comment.
This article was written by Adam Pliskin from Elite Daily and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
