Fox And Empire Producers Sued For $500M Over Story Idea

Producers of Empire are facing a lawsuit from Jon Astor-White who claims his 2007 idea was stolen for the Fox, music-themed, hit TV series.

Empire (TV SHOW) (l-r) Tiraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, grace the cover of Entertainment Weekly March edition. Bryshere Y. Gray, Jussie Smollett, Trai Byers Photographed February 12, 2015 at the Up and Down Club in New York, NY. Photograph by Marc Hom

Aston-White, owner of a Las Vegas based production outfit, is suing Fox as well as the executive producers of the show to the tune of $500M, in addition to extra damages for damage done, Daily Mail reports.

‘In our minds [Empire] is at least 75% of what we wrote,’  White told Daily Mail.

According to Daily Mail, White said he’d initially proposed his show titled King Solomon in 2007, which was based on a music family’s many power tussles for supremacy and control of the venture.

He also claims to have circulated his idea of King Solomon to some production outfits, which must have leaked somewhere in between, leading to Empire.

Empire has been quite successful but its shine stands threatened by the multiple lawsuits springing from various angles.

Till date, there have been at least three legal tussles before now between various persons versus, Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, the creators of Empire and 21^stCentury Fox.

A certain record label named Empire Distribution wanted the producers to drop the name Empire, but there was a counter claim from Fox, Daily Mail says.

One Ron Newt had, sometime ago, pressed charges against Empire and those behind it to the tune of $1 billion.

Another Sophia Eggleston thinks $300 million will make her forget how the TV series stole her Cookie identity and mirrored the storyline around her exact life experiences.

Empire, set to return September 23rd, is the hugely successful TV series that details the life of a music family wherein a man is torn between two women, the fortune and fame of his music company and many more intriguing aspects.

Source: Naij