A street drummer claimed his business teaching kids has fallen down after his image was used in a documentary about the 'provocatively' dressed singer.
- March 31, 2011
AceShowbiz -
Nicki Minaj's name has been dragged into a lawsuit between MTV and a street drummer. Twenty six years old Michael Savely is suing the network for using his image without consent in 2010 documentary "Nicki Minaj: My Time Now" which is about the Grammy nominated singer's rise to fame.
Savely, who performs in a public subway platform, said in his lawsuit that MTV and its parent company Viacom have damaged his reputation and consequently his tutoring business and T-shirt sales. Camera-shy Savely said he was approached by the show's producers back in November 2010 and asked to sign a waiver. He refused on the basis that "the footage would misrepresent his connection with other artists whose style conflict with the one that he has developed." But the image appeared anyway a month later.
The self-proclaimed "conservative" street drummer said his business teaching kids went down after the documentary aired when many parents of his students felt they can't trust him "to provide their children with something more modern yet not corrupt." The lawsuit filed at New Jersey Federal Court said Minaj "dresses provocatively, uses profanity and glorifies a specific lifestyle."
MTV and Viacom are yet to give their side of story.
