Jerry Heller is the man depicted in the biopic film Straight Outta Compton about West Coast gangsta rap group N.W.A, In the movie Heller appears to be slimier than a grease pit mechanic and for that reason he has filed a 110 million dollar lawsuit against the producers of the film. Now he is explaining why he decided to do it.
Since its August release, Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A biopic chronicling the rise and fall of the gangsta rap firebrands, has become the highest-grossing music biopic in history. Though the rags-to-riches story detailed the rise of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E, it also depicted Jerry Heller, the group’s first manager and longtime nemesis, as the villain, extending a decades-long battle between Heller and the group.
Portrayed by Paul Giamatti in the film, the now-75-year-old served as the group’s manager from 1987 until the group fell apart in 1991. He also co-founded the group’s label, Ruthless Records, with Eazy-E, with whom he claims to have maintained a close friendship with until the rapper’s death in 1995. The film accuses Heller of sleazy business dealings previously detailed in Ice Cube’s scathing diss track “No Vaseline” and the depiction of a manager in Dr. Dre’s “Dre Day” video. In 2006, Heller released Ruthless: A Memoir to tell his side of the story and address certain accusations he claimed were untrue.
Heller says none of this is true and is seeking $110 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages for defamation, copyright infringement, breach of contract and other charges. In the 55-page complaint, Heller alleges that he did not “authorize anyone to use his name” in the film and that the movie “is littered with false statements that harm [his] reputation … and deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.”
The former manager also claims that parts of the film were lifted from his book without permission and that select scenes violated a confidential settlement with Woods-Wright in 1999 barring either party from publicly disparaging the other. Heller spoke with Rolling Stone to explain why he felt he needed to sue.
When did you see the movie?
No one invited me to a screening before it came out, so I saw the movie like anyone else on August 15th. I took a date, and it cost me $42 to get in. So I saw it and lived with it for a while [before] talking to several lawyers. We got a copy of the movie and went over it frame-by-frame for four, five, six hours one evening. I just decided that I could not live with myself and not file this suit. While the movie was a powerful, well-done movie, it was dishonest. Most of it was inaccurate, or just out-and-out not true. So when I came to that conclusion with my lawyer, we decided to file a suit. That was just in the last couple of weeks.
Had you expected the movie to come out the way it did?
I had no idea how it was going to come out. Ice Cube has never been real fair on the things that he said to me. All you have to do is listen to “No Vaseline,” and you see where he’s coming from. I call the movie revisionist history, like something invented by Joe Stalin, just saying whatever you want. Well, I don’t think that you can do that. I’m just not a victim.
It also claims the movie made it look like you made sure you were paid more than your fair share.
Let me explain to you how it worked: They obviously didn’t understand what was going on. I took 20 percent, ’cause I managed the group. If Dre got $75,000, I got $15,000. So $15,000 times five – ’cause there were five members of the group – equals $75,000, which is 20 percent of the money that came in. So just because I took 20 percent of each individually doesn’t mean that I got more than 20 percent; I got a total of 20 percent. So once again, it’s just playing loose with the facts of the situation. (That sounds like double dipping to us but okay?)
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