15 Ridiculous Lawsuits Celebs Were Involved In

Lawsuits are an occupational hazard of being a celebrity, that much is certain. Famous folks lawyer up big-time for a reason: the court sometimes comes-a-callin'. Often, it's more than justified, it's actually long overdue given celebs sometime atrocious behavior. See pretty much from 2018 on. We've said ‘so long’ to those who really should have been nixed a looong time ago.

Other times, though, court actions can be just plain frivolous. You've read the eye-rolling headlines before. For example: Hormel Foods, those mythical makers of SPAM, once launched legal action to prevent "evil in porcine form" from killing people’s appetite for SPAM. It's that kind of crap that gives Saul Goodman a bad name, and as we all know, that is nearly impossible. But think on it a moment, like, how are the Muppets going to destroy anyone's career other than almost Jason Segel's. Here’s the full story, plus 14 others:

15

Rosa Parks sued OutKast over how they used her name in a song title. She sued them in 1999 over using her name in a song called, well, Rosa Parks (it had the chorus Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus.) CRACKED.COM — Source: Billboard

14

Uri Geller sued Nintendo over a Pokemon card (and won). $18 They used his likeness to create the Pokemon Kadabra, he claimed - just like Geller, Kadabra bent spoons with its mind. Nintendo turned him into an evil, occult Pokemon character, he said. CRACKED.COM — Source: Polygon

13

An Oregon guy sued Michael Jordan over his resemblance to him. JORDAN LOOK-ALIKE? MICHAEL ALLEN JORDAN HECKARD Allen Heckard sued Jordan for $416 million because, he said, being mistaken for Jordan all the time caused him emotional pain and defamation. CRACKED.COM — Source: TIME

12

Creed was sued by its fans because of a ridiculously drunk concert performance. The fans claimed that Creed singer Scott Stapp was so drunk, he couldn't clearly sing the lyrics of any of their songs, which amounted to the show getting cancelled. CRACKED.COM — Source: Rolling Stone

11

In 1989, The Beatles filed preliminary legal papers against the Beastie Boys. Pauls HELLOS BOUTIQUE) EWELRY The Beastie Boys' 1989 album Paul's Boutique sampled several minutes' worth of Beatles songs, so the Fab Four started getting ready for legal action. Beastie Boys member Mark D said, What's cooler than getting sued by The Beatles? CRACKED.COM — Source: MusicRadar

10

Comedian Katt Williams did such a terrible show, he got sued for it. In an Oakland show, he confronted a heckler, took his clothes off, and attempted to fight at least three audience members, according to the lawsuit. CRACKED.COM — Source: The Huffington Post

9

A woman who never met Keanu Reeves filed a paternity suit against him. Keanu fathered her four children, claimed Karen Sala, and she demanded millions from him. This was despite the fact that a DNA test proved he couldn't be the father. CRACKED.COM — Source: The Star

8

Judas Priest got sued for driving someone to suicide with subliminal messaging. After two young men committed suicide in 1985 after listening to Judas Priest for hours, the band was sued for supposedly hiding messages like try suicide, do it and let's be dead in their music. The band was ruled not responsible for the deaths. CRACKED.COM — Source: Rolling Stone

7

John Fogerty got sued by a label executive for ripping off one of his own tracks. When Fogerty released The Old Man Down the Road, Fantasy Records exec Saul Zaentz thought it was too similar to his old song Run Through the Jungle - and Zaentz owned the copyright to it, so he sued Fogerty. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

6

'60s British band The Move were sued by the UK Prime Minister. Their manager printed 500 copies of a card showing Prime Minister Harold Wilson in a very compromising situation with one of his assistants, and also put in text advertising The Move's new album. So Wilson sued them, and won. CRACKED.COM — Source: Birmingham Mail

5

50 Cent got sued for ripping off the lyric It's your birthday from another song. He'd ripped off the lyric Go Sheila, it's your birthday and turned it into Go shorty, it's your birthday, according to the lawsuit. But the judge didn't buy it, saying that the expression was pretty common. CRACKED.COM — Source: Billboard

4

Hedy Lamarr sued Warner Bros. for the Hedley Lamarr joke in Blazing Saddles. A character was named Hedley Lamarr, and Lamarr really didn't like that. She settled out of court, winning some money and getting Mel Brooks to apologize to her for almost using her name. CRACKED.COM — Source: PBS

3

The NFL sued M.I.A. over giving the middle finger in the Super Bowl halftime show. In 2012's Super Bowl halftime show, M.I.A. flipped off the camera at one point. This led to 222 complaints with the FCC, claiming, for example, that what she did was essentially flipping off America, and flipping off my family. CRACKED.COM — Source: ESPN

2

The makers of SPAM sued Jim Henson because of the muppet SPA'AM. When Jim Henson introduced evil pig puppet SPA'AM, Hormel claimed that a grotesque and noxious appearing wild boar who was the incarnation of evil in porcine form would turn people off SPAM. The judge thought that was ridiculous. CRACKED.COM — Source: Deseret

1

The YMCA hated the Village People's YMCA and sued them over it. The issue wasn't that the song was pro-gay or anything the YMCA just didn't like that its trademarked name was used without permission. And apparently, somehow, profiting from the song's popularity wasn't their priority. CRACKED.COM — Source: Mental Floss

Must Read

These Are Ray Romano’s Three Favorite Episodes of ‘Everyone Loves Raymond’

No episode is perfect, but Romano thinks these three came close

Authors: By Matt Solomon
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 0

I Would Feed My Right Hand to A Gator to Stop Adam Sandler From Making ‘Happy Gilmore 2’

An alligator ended Chubbs Peterson’s golf aspirations — could it close down Sandler’s sequel dreams, too?

Authors: By Keegan Kelly
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 5

Rob Schneider Pivots From Cancel Culture Comedy to His Other Shtick

After driving away the anti-woke crowd with his holiday gala meltdown, Schneider will try to win them back with some old-fashioned Christian entertainment

Authors: By Keegan Kelly
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 2

Roseanne Barr Almost Starred in ‘Married… With Children’

And she would have had babies with screaming Sam Kinison

Authors: By Matt Solomon
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 0

Isn’t It Weird to Add Celebrities to a Game Where They Get Shot?

Wow, I just took out my favorite singer with a headshot

Authors: By Eli Yudin
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 1

PICTOFACT

24 Funny Times Something Completely Backfired on Someone

‘Grass caught on fire’

Authors: By Ian Garner
Published: April 24, 2024
Comments: 2

12 Trivia Tidbits for Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Nathan Fielder Says Emma Stone Is Great at Comedy Because She’s ‘Near Un-Offendable’

20 of the Dumbest Things Done by Police Officers

35 of the Funniest Tweets from April 24, 2024

33 Random Bits of Trivia We Found in a Pot at the End of a Rainbow