'Spinal Tap' Co-Creator Harry Shearer Suing Vivendi For $125 Million Over Unpaid Profits
Shearer, who co-created mock-rockumentary 'This Is Spinal Tap' in the eighties, is suing parent company Vivendi for unpaid profits going back decades.
Harry Shearer is suing Vivendi, the parent company of Universal Music and StudioCanal, over millions of dollars in profits that he claims the company has withheld from the creators of the iconic ‘80s ‘rockumentary’ This Is Spinal Tap.
72 year old Shearer, who co-wrote the script and soundtrack as well as starring in the 1984 film as the unfortunate Spinal Tap bassist Derek Smalls, lodged a lawsuit claiming $125 million in compensatory and punitive damages against Vivendi at the Central District Court of California this week.
Vivendi, a French conglomerate, acquired the rights to This Is Spinal Tap in 1989 through its subsidiary StudioCanal. Shearer claims that, since that date, profits from the film have not been equitably shared between its four co-creators, cast or crew.
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