'GTA6 stole my face' says 'Florida Joker' whose mugshot went viral for tattoos

10 December 2023 , 23:22

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Lawrence Sullivan's mugshot which went viral (Image: Miami-Dade Corrections)

A man with very unique facial tattoos has called out a video game giant because he believes the company has stolen his face for their latest version of the mega-hit, Grand Theft Auto.

So-called Florida Joker Lawrence Sullivan, whose mugshot went viral for his face tattoos, has accused Rockstar Games, the maker of the GTA video game franchise, of using his likeness in the latest iteration's trailer, which crushed the previous record for most views of a non-music video in its first 24 hours on YouTube, generating more than 93 million.

Influencer Mr Beast set the previous record in August with his "Every Country On Earth Fights for $250,000" video, which saw almost 60 million views in its first 24 hours. However, after the GTA 6 trailer's release, viewers quickly noticed that several of the scenes resembled famously viral incidents in Florida, where the game is based.

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Viewers recognised a scene featuring an alligator walking into a convenience store, and another where police chase a naked man. And Sullivan also noticed something in the trailer – that a tattooed man that features in the video is based on him, he claimed in a TikTok post.

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Sullivan's mugshot went viral in 2017 when Miami police arrested him for pointing a gun at passing vehicles. And in his TikTok video, he tells viewers that anyone who doesn't see the resemblance between himself and the tattooed man in the trailer is "out your goddamn nuggets".

The Florida Joker, whose police mugshot went viral for wild facial tattoos (lawrence.sullivan0/Tiktok)

Lawrence Sullivan following his arrest (Miami-Dade Corrections)

He adds: "GTA we got to talk. If not, you got to give me like a mil or two." In the video, Sullivan points to a photo of his mugshot next to a screenshot of the trailer showing a game character with similar face tattoos.

He says: "Florida Joker ain't having that. Y'all took my likeness. Y'all took my life. That's me. That's the person they got their inspiration from. That's me." Following another arrest for missing court-ordered psychiatric appointments in 2018, Sullivan told WFLA in Tampa that his tattoos have personal significance because he sees the Joker character as a "rose" who overcame tragedies in his life, similar to himself.

He is convinced this fictional depiction in the GTA6 trailer is inspired by him (Rockstar)

He said: "That old Lawrence you saw with the plain face, he's dead. This is the new Lawrence slash Joker." However, it's not the first time someone has accused Rockstar of using their likeness in GTA.

Actor Lindsay Lohan sued Rockstar Games in 2014, claiming the character Lacey Jones, who appears on the opening screen of GTA 5, looked, sounded, and dressed like her. But the New York Supreme Court dismissed Lohan's suit in 2016, finding that Rockstar "never referred to Lohan by name or used her actual name in the video game, never used Lohan herself as an actor for the video game, and never used a photograph of Lohan".

He makes his point in his TikTok video (lawrence.sullivan0/Tiktok)

He is convinced (lawrence.sullivan0/Tiktok)

The court said in its ruling that even if it had found the depiction to be close enough to Lohan, she would not have had a claim because the game was a work of fiction and thus not covered under laws that cover advertising.

The court ruling continued: "Further, Lohan's claim that her image was used in advertising materials for the video game should also be dismissed. The images are not of Lohan herself, but merely the avatar in the game that Lohan claims is a depiction of her."

Paul Donald