Jewish Rap Manager Sues ‘Straight Outta Compton’ for $110 Million

“Straight Outta Compton,” the musical biopic about boundary-breaking rap group N.W.A., cleaned up at box offices this summer — and made some enemies along the way.
Jerry Heller, the group’s former manager, has filed a $110 million defamation lawsuit against multiple parties involved in the film’s production and distribution, including NBC Universal, former N.W.A. members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, and Tomica Woods-Wright, widow of Eazy-E, also a founding member of the group.
Heller, who in his long career has represented artists like Journey, Ike and Tina Turner, and Marvin Gaye, expressed multiple frustrations with the way in which his character in “Straight Outta Compton” was portrayed. He lists a dozen charges against the film, in which he was played by Paul Giamatti, including defamation and misappropriation of character. Quoted in Tablet, Heller’s lawsuit asserts that “the film is littered with false statements that harm the reputation of (Heller) and aim to ridicule and lower him in the opinion of the community and to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him.”
Heller, in addition to contesting the way he was depicted in the film, claims that certain scenes in it were taken without permission from his memoir “Ruthless: A Memoir.” His full complaint can be accessed .
[h/t Tablet]
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward What the election of Mark Carney would mean for Canadian Jews and Israel
-
Fast Forward Over 500 rabbis sign letter rejecting Trump’s antisemitism agenda
-
Film & TV In ‘The Rehearsal,’ Nathan Fielder fights the removal of his Holocaust fashion episode
-
Fast Forward AJC, USC Shoah Foundation announce partnership to document antisemitism since World War II
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.