50 Cent has sued the producers of an upcoming horror film in which the rapper appears, claiming he was never paid for his role.
“I didn’t get paid. I’m afraid I’m gonna need that by Monday. You already know the vibes,” the rapper wrote on Instagram following news of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, first reported by TMZ, seeks to block the release of Skillhouse, a horror movie about social media influencers locked inside a mansion and forced to get likes to survive.
A trailer for Skillhouse arrived last week, featuring 50 Cent (playing himself!) as the mastermind behind the bloodbath. However, soon after the trailer arrived, the rapper took to social media himself, writing in a since-deleted post, “They can’t release this MOVIE SKILL HOUSE without my signature which they do not have. What kinda business are they doing? I’d hate to have to demonstrate.”
The lawsuit claims that Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson agreed to film his scenes in Skillhouse before finalizing and signing off on his contract, as he assumed he and producers (namely Ryan Kavanaugh) would eventually work out a deal. However, a deal was never reached, and 50 Cent says he still hasn’t been compensated.
“That trust was misplaced. No final agreement was ever signed,” the lawsuit states. “Nevertheless, defendants have billed Jackson as the star and producer of the film [and] have shamelessly and deceptively marketed the film as a ‘50 Cent Movie’ and ‘produced by 50 Cent,’ when it is nothing of the sort.”
(The trailer posted last week by Fathom Events says “Starring multi-talented icon Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson” at the onset of its synopsis, though the rapper’s alleged role of producer is not mentioned.)
In another deleted IG post last week, 50 Cent wrote, “This guy Ryan Kavanaugh is doing everything in his power to make me kill this movie. This one is going in the trash can.”
Kavanaugh is no stranger to controversy in Hollywood: Nearly a decade ago, Relativity Media, the production company he founded, enjoyed a meteoric rise before crashing out into bankruptcy just a few years later, resulting in lawsuits and Relativity Media becoming a cautionary tale within the industry. (“In a town full of scam artists, posers, false prophets and flim-flam men, Ryan C. Kavanaugh is in a Hollywood class by himself,” an investor told a bankruptcy judge in 2018.)
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Kavanaugh has since founded the streaming service GenTV, which produced Skillhouse and has heavily promoted the film.
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“Defendants have made Jackson the centerpiece of their promotional and marketing efforts for the Film. Despite having raised concerns months ago, Jackson’s name, image, and trademarks still feature prominently across the GenTV platform,” the lawsuit continued.
“Despite plaintiffs’ repeated objections and demands to cease and desist, defendants continue to infringe and misappropriate plaintiffs’ intellectual property rights and intend to release the film in the coming weeks (if not days). Should the film be released publicly, Jackson faces irreparable harm to his valuable brand and reputation.”
