The family of the late Griselda Blanco has agreed to a settlement in the lawsuit against the Netflix show ‘Griselda,’ starring Sofia Vergara. Publicly accessible documents reveal the family’s counsel dismissed the complaint with prejudice, effectively terminating any potential redux of the same claim.
The Lawsuit Background
A few weeks prior to the settlement, Vergara and Netflix were named in a legal complaint concerning the show. The mini-series, in which the actress plays the Colombian drug lord who was assassinated in 2012, was contested for allegedly exploiting the family’s “image, likeness, and identity” without due permission.
The Plaintiffs
Michael Corleone Blanco, the son of Griselda Blanco, and his spouse Marie instigated the suit on January 17 in a Miami-Dade County Court. They sought to inhibit the six-part series, scheduled to stream as of January 25, as they claimed that Netflix used their likeness without obtaining their approval.
The Allegations
According to the suit, from 2009 to 2022 Michael had engaged in dialogues about conceiving a book and a show portraying his mother’s history, even giving interviews and providing materials for the same. Yet, he alleges that he discovered about the limited series only later and accuses Netflix of utilizing the materials he had provided without due credit or remuneration.
No Credit for Family’s Artistic Contribution
The suit elaborates that Michael’s “unreleased and private artistic literary work” that describes his own life and that of his mother, Griselda Blanco, is used in the series, without crediting him for it. In addition to Vergara and Netflix, who were two of the seven defendants named in the suit, the executive producer Eric Newman also had a say about the lawsuit. Despite not being a named defendant himself, he clarified that the show was a “fictionalized account” and not intended to be a documentary or biography. Hence, he stated, it was unlikely to satisfy everyone or depict the real occurrences precisely.
Wrapping Up
The lawsuit’s settlement indicates an end to this legal dispute surrounding the Netflix show ‘Griselda’. While the details of the settlement are not public, it does mark an important moment in the conversation regarding rights and permissions in the entertainment industry. For further updates on the pop culture scene, visit HitPlay.
