Jamie Foxx, Tyler Perry Being Sued over Film Project
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Jason Merritt/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Jamie Foxx and Tyler Perry are being sued for $1 million each by a prisoner in Oklahoma who claims the pair stole his idea for a film starring the female alter egos they originally developed for other projects.
Foxx and Perry haven’t commented on the matter, according to TMZ, but the site says that the movie — which is reportedly in development — is titled Skank Robbers. It would star singer-actor Foxx as Wanda, his character from In Living Color, while Perry would appear as his movie matriarch Madea, alongside Martin Lawrence, who’d reprise his role as Sheneneh, a character from his ’90s sitcom Martin.
Shamont Lyle Sapp — who tells TMZ he’s serving time in Oklahoma for 10 bank robberies — claims in legal documents that he imagined a film featuring all three characters, but instead of a comedy, he pitched Foxx and Perry a drama that involved a patient holding Madea hostage in a mental hospital.
TMZ also notes that Foxx and Lawrence premiered a Skank Robbers sketch during the 2009 BET Awards show — one month before Sapp shared his idea with Perry.
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