Everyone wants a piece of Lee Daniels‘ Empire!
As you’ve probably noticed by now, the co-creator of the FOX hit has been dodging lawsuits left and right from people who claim that the hip-hop drama was stolen!
The Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson series has already dealt with litigation from a woman who claimed the show stole her life story and another from a man who alleged the producers jacked the idea of lead character Lucious Lyon!
Related: Empire Completely Flopped Overseas!
Well, it looks like Daniels just scored another victory because in a federal court ruling this week, a judge shot down yet another lawsuit saying that Empire was ripped off from someone else’s original script!
This time, a man named Jon Astor-White said his show titled King Solomon is similarly about a Harvard-educated black guy who starts his own record label.
Not only did the judge notice that the writer had no ties to the showrunners, but also pointed out that the shows aren’t actually that alike at all — Astor-White’s show has no Cookie and his Harvard-educated black character is NOT terminally ill like Lucious.
Related: Empire Season Two Soundtrack Flops On The Charts
To make matters worse, Jon actually tried to defend himself by saying that his lead character’s daughter was similar to Jussie Smullet‘s Jamal since “both [are] associated with the feminine gender.” Ugh…
Luckily, the judge seemed really offended by that comparison, saying “The court rejects this outdated and offensive stereotype.”
While this case has been dismissed, we surely haven’t seen the last of litigious wannabe writers trying to cash in on Empire because they also once wrote a story about a black man working in the music industry!
[Image via FOX.]
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