According to a complaint filed on Wednesday
with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Brown, the R&B singer
formerly of New Edition, and Bobbi Kristina's estate never
consented to the airing of footage used in the documentary.
The plaintiffs said the material is approximately 15 years old,
predating Brown's 2007 divorce from Houston and her 2012 death,
and its unauthorized use has harmed Brown, his business and
Bobbi Kristina's estate.
"Every person should have the right to control how their
identity or likeness or personality, or voice, name or image is
commercialized by others," the complaint said.
"Whitney: Can I Be Me" premiered in August 2017 on Showtime, a
unit of CBS Corp, and the BBC has aired it in the United
Kingdom. It draws on interviews with Houston's friends and
people who knew her, as well as archival footage.
Showtime declined to comment, and the BBC did not immediately
respond to requests for comment. Brown's lawyer, Christopher
Brown, did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The plaintiffs are seeking at least $2 million for violations of
their rights of publicity and false advertising, and an
injunction against the documentary's distribution.
Unspecified punitive damages also are being sought. Several
other defendants were also sued.
The documentary focuses on Houston's mid-career struggles, which
came long after she shot to stardom with hits in the mid-1980s
such as "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All," "I Wanna
Dance With Somebody," and 1992's "I Will Always Love You."
Houston was 48 when she drowned in a Beverly Hills hotel
bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use as contributing
factors. Bobbi Kristina Brown died at age 22 in 2015 of
pneumonia after nearly six months in a coma.
The case is Brown et al v Showtime Networks Inc et al, U.S.
District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-11078.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill
Trott)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](column_spacer.png)
|
|