After Rockstar released the instantly viral GTA 6 trailer, which featured nods to countless “Florida Man” memes, Florida decided to out-Florida itself as a follow up. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. A Florida man (I’m so glad I get to use that phrase in an article) is demanding five million dollars from Rockstar “by after his birthday” with the threat of suing the company if they don’t deliver. But…why? It’s simultaneously a very long and very short story.
Who is Lawrence Sullivan aka the “Florida Joker”
There’s a game I adore called the Florida Man Game: it goes like this. Google your birthday followed by the words “Florida man,” and you’re bound to see one of the most unhinged news articles about a man in Florida committing a crime on that date. Lawrence Sullivan has been that Florida Man a few times now—first in 2017, then in 2022, and finally…after Rockstar released the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 in 2023. Lawrence Sullivan didn’t become a certified infamous Florida Man because of the crimes he committed, however. Rather, his mugshot launched him into the every-growing archives of internet-infamy, and given his moniker “Florida Joker,” you can probably guess why.
Lawrence Sullivan went viral in 2017 after being arrested on marijuana related charges because of his facial tattoos and hair color. In his mugshot, Sullivan was sporting dyed green hair and a WHOLE lot of face tattoos: most notable the iconic permanent smile tattoo made famous by DC’s Joker. When he was arrested again in 2022 for unlawful possession of a concealed weapon, his look hadn’t changed much, and so he was immortalized as Florida Joker: A powerhouse and icon amongst the Florida Men. But what does that have to do with GTA?
Why the Florida Joker is threatening to sue Rockstar?
Really, the scandal starts and ends with a meme. If you haven’t seen the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 yet, go check it out. The fantastically atmospheric trailer reveals the setting of the upcoming game to be Leonida: a fictional state that has been present in the series since Vice City (a fictional version of Miami). It’s not yet known which part of Leonida the game will take place in, but one thing is very clear: Leonida is Florida. Rockstar had the genius idea of making that abundantly clear by recreatingviral “Florida Man” videos and stories in the trailer.
The trailer features alligators walking into drug stores, people shotgunning beers, twerking on cars, falling off of monster trucks covered in mud, and more “Leonida” debauchery, and every single animated sequence is actually a memed homage to real viral videos from Florida. Included in the trailer is a shot of a purple haired, tatted-up man in a jumpsuit shown via a fictional in-game news channel—an homage to (and meme version of) the Florida Joker’s viral headshot.
Almost immediately after the trailer released, Sullivan shared a video demanding $3 million from Rockstar for “stealing his likeness” in the trailer. After a few weeks, he shared another video stating that he has spoken with lawyers and now wants $5 million before January 11 (which he initially only dubs his birthday before seeming to remember that nobody will know what date he’s talking about).
Like most of you, my first instinct was just to laugh at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. But then, I began to wonder…does he actually have a case? The segment from the trailer is clearly inspired by the viral mugshot, after all.
Does the Florida Joker actually have a chance of winning a case against Rockstar?
Now, I’m no lawyer—however, I have done a decent bit of research of the subject. While I still don’t think I would do very well on a BAR exam, I can confidentially say that I’m 99 percent mostly certain that no lawyers would be likely to take Sullivan’s case if he actually does decide to sue Rockstar over the trailer. Here’s why.
None of the tattoos are the same
This is a big one, as even his moniker references The Joker (ironically, Rockstar would have much more to worry about from DC than Sullivan if they borrowed that smile tattoo for GTA 6). The fact that the smile tattoo is so specific and is such a strong identifier makes it very hard to label the man from the trailer as Sullivan, because the man from the trailer does not have a Joker tattoo. He has tons of face tattoos, sure—but not a single one of them is actually the same as Sullivan’s.
The man from the trailer has an alibi
The only time this tattooed man in shown in the trailer is during a fake news program, which sports the headline, “Confesión escrita en tinta (para tatuajes).” For anyone who doesn’t speak Spanish, that means: “Confession written in ink (through tattoos).” An excerpt written in Spanish just beneath the headline roughly translates to “A neck tattoo that gave himself away was the key to this man’s conviction.”
This isn’t just a hilarious joke about a Leonida Man so dumb that he left a tattoo trail of his crimes—it’s also an alibi for Rockstar. In using this headline while showing the clip, the developer created a fictional backstory for the character from the trailer—one that completely sets the character aside from Sullivan, whose arrest, charges, and evidence were completely different. This headline doesn’t just differentiate the character from Sullivan—it does so in a way that also creates a highly memorable and unique narrative, which makes any sort of defamation claims pretty much impossible to back.
Rockstar isn’t stupid
Now, I’m almost certain that Rockstar created the fake headline specifically to differentiate the trailer from reality, but I’d wager that there’s even more differences and safety nets that my very impressive little bit of research didn’t unearth. Put yourselves in the minds of the people behind the GTA 6 trailer for a moment. You know that you want to create memes out of real-life events for your trailer, and you know you’re one of the most high profile gaming companies on the planet. Now, imagine you somehow neglect to wonder if there’s any potential legal issues with that idea, and you don’t check with experts to make sure you’re covering your bases. Sounds pretty far fetched, doesn’t it?
This isn’t even Rockstar’s first time being sued for allegedly using someone’s likeness, either. In fact, Lindsay Lohen tried to sue the company after thinking that the fictional animated women from the GTA 5 poster looked similar to her. Needless to say, Rockstar won that case. The odds that Rockstar would turn around and create a trailer for GTA 6 that allowed for a legitimate case against them are pretty much non-existent, if you ask me.
