{"id":1396,"date":"2016-03-09T15:21:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T20:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:01:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:01:33","slug":"former-n-w-a-manager-jerry-heller-sues-to-be-the-good-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2016\/03\/former-n-w-a-manager-jerry-heller-sues-to-be-the-good-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Former N.W.A. Manager Jerry Heller Sues To Be The \u201cGood Guy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1397\" src=\"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2016\/03\/145931062_3e053b4af9_z-300x294.jpg\" alt=\"145931062_3e053b4af9_z\" width=\"300\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2016\/03\/145931062_3e053b4af9_z-300x294.jpg 300w, https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/78\/2016\/03\/145931062_3e053b4af9_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Jerry Heller, former manager of iconic L.A. hip-hop group N.W.A., is in the midst of suing the film-makers of <em>Straight Outta Compton<\/em> for $110 million to prove that he\u2019s one of the good guys. Heller\u2019s primary complaint is that the film, chronicling the rise of the N.W.A in the 1990s and 2000s, falsely portrays him as a \u201cbad guy.\u201d In legal terms, he claims that whatever was true about him violated his publicity rights while whatever was untrue defamed him. Luckily for the defendants, which include NBCUniversal, Ice Cube, and Dre. Dre, Heller filed the suit in California, where there is an anti-SLAPP statute. This statute is in place to deter \u201cStrategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation\u201d taken against the exercise of free speech rights on matters of public interest. In reaction to defendants\u2019 motion to strike the majority of Heller\u2019s claims pursuant to California\u2019s anti-SLAPP statute, earlier this week Heller had to argue to the court that his history of involvement with N.W.A. does not amount to a matter of public interest. In contrast, defendants argued that Heller is at least a \u201climited purpose public figure\u201d due to his close relationship with high-profile celebrities, noting that Heller had even published a memoir of his own regarding his time with the N.W.A. Unfortunately for Heller, based on a recent 9<sup>th<\/sup> Circuit case where the court dismissed similar claims alleging <em>The Hurt Locker<\/em> had violated publicity rights and caused defamation, it looks like his fight to be the \u201cgood guy\u2019 will end here.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the story here:<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/thr-esq\/nwa-manager-seeks-save-straight-871839<\/p>\n<p><em>Jennifer Marr is an Entertainment and Sports Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2018).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jerry Heller, former manager of iconic L.A. hip-hop group N.W.A., is in the midst of suing the film-makers of Straight Outta Compton for $110 million to prove that he\u2019s one of the good guys. Heller\u2019s primary complaint is that the film, chronicling the rise of the N.W.A in the 1990s and 2000s, falsely portrays him [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":1397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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