The mother of Tupac Shakur is suing a film production company for alleging she backed out of a deal to sell the rights to the late rapper's life story for a movie adaptation.
Amaru Entertainment, which is run by Afeni Shakur, the star's mother and the executor of his estate, is being sued by film production company Morgan Creek, which claims a written contract was in place for the rights to the California Love hitmaker's life story.
Bosses alleged in papers filed last week (begs16Feb09) that the star's mother backed out of negotiations, which began in November (08), and is refusing "to honor and perform a contract of a production of the film based on the life of Tupac Shakur".
Lawyers for Amaru denied existence of any such deal with Morgan Creek and claimed the production company only filed the writ to sabotage talks with other movie studios about adapting Shakur's life story.
And now representatives for Afeni Shakur have hit back, filing a counter-lawsuit against Morgan Creek over the movie and sabotage allegations.
A spokesperson for Amaru Entertainment says, "Sadly, Morgan Creek decided to take advantage of this situation and attempt to frustrate our project by interfering with our business relationships. We will not be frightened by Morgan Creek's tactics and we are absolutely confident that the movie will be produced and released.
"Tupac's story is what Hollywood legends are made of - and we want to make sure that the movie tells Tupac's story like it should be told and lives up to everyone's expectations."
The star's mother tells AllHipHop.com, "Tupac touched so many people in his brief life and it makes me feel honoured in keeping his message alive. And I want to do so with integrity - in the right way with the right people...That's what Tupac would have wanted."