Bobby Brown hauled Showtime and the BBC into court for using old footage from Bravo’s 2004 Being Bobby Brown reality TV series in a new Whitney Houston documentary entitled Can I Be Me?
Brown, who is the late singer’s ex-husband, filed a lawsuit in New York federal court seeking $2 million for including the old footage of Brown and his late daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in the film.
Brown’s legal team claims the singer never consented to using extensive footage Being Bobby Brown in the film.
The complaint states:
“The film contains footage that Brown and BKB has never consented to have released. Brown and [Bobbi Kristina] appear in the film for a substantial period of time, in excess of thirty (30) minutes. The footage was actually recorded prior to the divorce in 2007 between Brown and Houston. Brown never signed or executed a release for the airing of the material that appears in the film. The footage of Brown is approximately fifteen (15) years old.”
Brown claims the use of the footage amounts to misappropriation of publicity rights as well as a violation of the Lanham Act, according to HollywoodReporter.com.
The complaint seeks $2 million in monetary damages and a permanent injunction.
Brown is also pursuing a separate breach-of-contract lawsuit against B2 Entertainment, a now defunct company that produced the Bravo Reality TV series, Being Bobby Brown.
B2 Entertainment was founded by Tracey Baker-Simmons and Wanda Shelley. The women reportedly agreed not to release footage from Being Bobby Brown after public backlash forced the cancellation of the TV series that portrayed Whitney in a very negative light.
Brown accuses Baker-Simmons and Shelley of negotiating a “side deal” by providing the BBB footage to Showtime and the BBC for inclusion in the Whitney documentary.
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