On Monday (March 28), former N.W.A. manager Jerry Heller was granted another chance to sue the creators of the N.W.A. biopic. Heller has filed a defamation lawsuit against approximately 20 people, which include NBCUniversal, the estate of Eazy E, F. Gary Gray, Legendary Pictures, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, etc. Heller claims that he was portrayed in an unflattering way in “Straight Outta Compton.” He also insists that his likeness was not approved and that the defendants stole his work and breached a past agreement, which was settled years ago with Eazy E’s estate. NBCUniversal is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. The company says Heller’s claims goes against the rights to free speech and that, the former manager inserted himself after authoring his own book about his time with N.W.A. “Mr. Heller is clearly a sophisticated and wealthy man. He’s written this book. They’ve made this movie…in the ’80s, as an old white guy, I was aware of N.W.A. As the case goes forward, Mr. Heller is going to have some real trouble here,” stated U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald. Because Heller is just as much of a public figure as N.W.A., the judge noted that this could work against him according to California’s SLAPP statue.
