Chris Rock is lucky he had at least one “Good Hair” day in New York, because the rest of his week is shaping up to be one big old mess of a tress.
The comedian discovered he’d been slammed with a $5 million plagiarism lawsuit just 41 minutes before he was due at the Big Apple premiere of his flick “Good Hair” on Monday.
Rock was understandably late – though only by a half hour – to the IFC Center’s red carpet, but still gamely spoke to reporters. Calm and collected, he gave no indication he’d been sued. In fact, Rock seemed to have a fantastic time at the Cinema Society & Target screening and after-party, joking until 11:30 p.m. with Amber Rose, Adrian Grenier, Ashanti, “Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe and Dylan McDermott at the Standard Grill.
While Rock was all laughs at his premiere, director Regina Kimbell certainly wasn’t smiling when she filed a suit against the funnyman for allegedly ripping off her 2005 documentary, “Nappy Roots.” Kimbell claims that she showed her film – which won the Pan African Film Festival’s best documentary award in 2007 – to Rock on the set of his TV series “Everyone Hates Chris” that same year.
The ideas behind both films do seem similar. The synopsis for Kimbell’s film on mynappyrootsthemovement.com says the flick “takes an unparalleled look at how black hair is used as a prism through which to look at cultural, societal and political issues in the African-American community over time.”
Rock’s movie delves into the same topics, but takes a celebrity angle that Kimbell’s documentary does not cover. Maya Angelou, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ice-T, Eve and Kerry Washington all speak to Rock about their own hair-y situations, as well as about how black people’s hair is perceived by the black community.
While this to-’do is still in progress, at least Rock won’t be accused of plagiarizing his latest project. The comedian will star in “Will You Be My Black Friend?,” a movie based on an article Devin Freidman did for GQ in 2008 that will be produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films. Rock has been candid that the idea is not his own.
Rock’s rep and Kimbell’s lawyer did not respond to calls for comment by press time.
(source)
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