Rockstar sued by owners of Miss Cleo - Report
Psychic Readers Network claims GTA: Vice City character voiced by Miss Cleo actress infringed on rights to TV psychic persona
Rockstar is facing another in a long line of Grand Theft Auto-inspired lawsuits, as the owners of TV fortune telling persona Miss Cleo are suing the company over the PlayStation 2 game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, TMZ reported last week.
In the suit, Psychic Readers Network is claiming that the game's Haitian gang leader Auntie Poulet unlawfully took the image and accent of the Miss Cleo character, which it owns the rights to. The Auntie Poulet character was voiced by actress Youree Dell Harris, who also played Miss Cleo in the original TV psychic hotline ads from which the character originated.
Rockstar responded to the suit over the 15-year-old game, telling TMZ, "These claims are entirely meritless and completely ridiculous. We will vigorously defend ourselves with regard to this matter."
The Psychic Readers Network has previously sued at least one other company that hired Harris after her stint as Miss Cleo. Two years ago, it filed suit against General Mills when the cereal maker used Harris as a fortune teller in a promotion for the return of its French Toast Crunch cereal.
Harris died last year at the age of 53.