The Simpsons team have been left a massive $250million out-of-pocket, after losing a lawsuit claiming that they based a character on real-life actor Frank Sivero’s creation. A gangster character called Louie is the centre of this controversy, and Goodfellas star Sivero is convinced that his character Frank Carbone’s appearance, mannerisms and voice have been used to create the cartoon character.
In the lawsuit, it is claimed that Sivero lived next door to Simpsons writers when he was developing his character for the Goodfellas movie. The lawsuit states: “They knew he was developing the character he was to play in the movie Goodfellas, In fact, they were aware the entire character of ‘Frankie Carbone’ was created and developed by Sivero, who based this character on his own personality.”
Despite voice actor Dan Castellaneta (voice of Louie and Homer) insisting he based the character’s around Joe Pesci’s Goodfellas character, the case still resulted in The Simpsons losing. They have lost $250million over a character only featured a dozen times in the show.
In a breakdown of the amount, $50 million is for actual damage from the loss of his likeness, $100 million for “improper interference”, $50 million damages for the stealing of his idea, plus $50 million in exemplary damages.
This isn’t the first time Sivero has been over-protective of his image, he also sued a restaurant for naming a sandwich after the famous mobster character Carbone.
