Sharknado, a SyFy project looked on its surface like a nadir in the career of Tara Reid, turned into just the opposite. Since 2013, SyFy has cranked out five more installments, with Reid starring alongside Iain Ziering in all of them. The Last Sharknado wrapped things up in August, but it appears Reid’s arc with the series isn’t over. Variety reports that the performer is suing infamous “mockbuster” studio Asylum for using her likeness on beer cans and slot machines without her consent.
As her suit outlines, Reid’s contract forbid producers from using her likeness on products related to gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or sex without her written permission. That agreement was violated when the Asylum decided to collaborate on a Sharknado beer with U.K. beer manufacturer Northern Monk Brewing Co. Apparently, the Asylum was also planning to put Reid’s face on slot machines and video gambling devices. Reid “did not and would not endorse such products,” the suit states.
She’s seeking a whopping $100 million from the company, an amount that even the lawyers acknowledge is insane. The insanity is the point, though, as the suit states that it’s “an amount sufficiently large to set a public example of deterrence.”
Hey, at least she didn’t leap at them with a chainsaw.
51 Comments
I don’t blame her; this is certain to damage her career for the past 15 years.
Wait, holy shit, Tara Reid seems to be completely in the right in her 100 million dollar lawsuit against the producers of Sharknado.
Those are words I never thought I’d write.
I bet you never thought you would live in a world when Bunny Lebowski has a better understanding how contracts work than the President.
This comment made me very happy and very sad at the same time.
The amount is a tad ridiculous, but it seems like they legit effed up and didn’t read her contract.
Yeah, it’s not just a breach of contract, using her likeness on alcohol and gambling products is really skeevy if they don’t have permission.
Apparently, the Asylum was also planning to put Reid’s face on slot machines and video gambling devices.They did more than plan. I took this in Vegas in July 2017.
I have two thoughts:1). Could they have found a photo of her where she looked even more bored?2). Who would be interested in playing a Sharknado-themed slot machine?
I played a big bang theory slot machine last year. Lost 5 bucks and I totally deserved it
I hope to god it said “Bazinga!” real loud every time you pulled the thing.
I think that was somewhere in there
“Could they have found a photo of her where she looked even more bored?”
Have you ever seen her with anything but that blank look on her face?
*Does a Google Image Search for Tara Reid*Damn, you’re right.
The magic of botox.
They have ever theme and they’re all loud and play theme songs. I like the old school ones best, but I don’t even really like gambling. Semi-recently I sat across from one of these that played the song and select scenes on a really annoying loop.
1) If I remember correctly, the “photos” are little videos, and it alternates between characters. I just happened to catch April looking bored.2) Me. I played it.
Could they have found a photo of her where she looked even more bored?
Any still from any Sharknado movie with Tara Reid in the frame will show her looking exactly that bored. I’m pretty sure alcoholism long ago killed the handful of brain cells she had with any trace amount of personality in them.
I am ashamed to admit that I watched four Sharknados, and thus am qualified to render this verdict: Ziering was perfectly cast and really gets the proper tone for those movies. Tara Reid was just cashing a check and could not give less of a shit, and looks in every scene like they wheeled her to set in a wheelchair, then propped her up on some kind of stand long enough for her to flatly deliver her lines.
IIRC she also has a sharknado themed perfume btw.
It smells like Hákarl.
they finally made a movie version of the hit slot machine Sharknado?
I know, right! It doesn’t have nearly the appeal of OMG Kittens!-d
I was in Vegas three days ago with my wife, saw this machine and wondered how much the actors whose likenesses get used on slot machines like get paid for it? Now we know that the answer is apparently zero.
OK, Reid has already lost the lawsuit and your picture is the proof. You took this in July 2017. The final Sharknado movie didn’t come out until 2018, so this machine predates that last movie. Reid’s lawsuit says that the contract containing the language preventing the use of her likeness was for that sixth and final movie, therefore there was no such language in place when that slot machine was created.Sorry, Tara.
I feel like I’ve turned the back of the book in Encyclopedia Brown.Also I really hope this comment section is entered as evidence in the case.
Where in the Variety article does it say the likeness-related language only appeared in the contract for the final movie? I don’t see anything that states that, and the implication in the article is that her contract always included that language form the first film onwards.
“OK, Reid has already lost the lawsuit and your picture is the proof.”
Maybe…just maybe…she knew about past merchandising and decided that she was going to be paid for future merchandising. Maybe…just maybe…that’s what the lawsuit is about.
I do like that you simply assumed that the lawsuit was specifically referencing some random picture that someone posted in the comments.
Unless there’s a plan for more machines.
The Variety article says it was included in her contracts for both 5 and 6.
You’d make a terrible lawyer.
Not necessarily. It could cover any future such machines, and still be applicable to the beer. Just because some already exist doesn’t mean she can’t have a say going forward.
What are you, Lawyer Elf?
receipts!!!!!
Coincidentally, the first time I went to Vegas, that year’s Sharknado was set in Sin City, and the big cast party was happening on the Strip the day I left. My plane was taking off as the movie was premiering on Syfy.
What a great story. In 30 or 40 years, your grandchildren are really going to appreciate that tale told during Thanksgiving.
I’ve been saving this for a special occasion. I propose a toast to her success!
Wow. Is that real???
Yes it is.Saw it by chance and bought only because of the can. I was looking forward to it as it’s a wheat beer with blood orange and sea salt which sounds interesting, I was thinking something like Blue Moon maybe, and I have enjoyed other beers from the brewery. However just last night I tried a collaborative beer called Temple with the similar ingredients (with added seaweed!) that I just couldn’t get through. The sourness and salt was too much for me.
Does it accept coins and pepperoni slices?
Pronounced Eye-uhn, but still spelled ‘Ian’
Geez, isn’t that the budget for the next 200 sequels?
Is that the low budget SyFy version of the 300 franchise?
Said Tara “they can’t make money off anything that I used to be addicted to”
products related to gambling, alcohol,
given how she seemed to be – not quite sober most of the time during those movies, that’s kinda ironic…..
wow a UK-brewed sharknado-themed beer, what a missed opportunity to make people close to me suffer when they ask for a drink
Just want to say, A++ on the title.
I concur.
I hope she wins. But then the court declares the settlement to be $1 so she gets what she deserves.
Reid’s contract forbid producers from using her likeness on products related to gambling… She’s seeking a whopping $100 million from the company, an amount that even the lawyers acknowledge is insane. The insanity is the point, though, as the suit states that it’s “an amount sufficiently large to set a public example of deterrence.”I used to work for an online bookmaker; this sort of clause is not unusual. Doing promo materials, I had to check the fine print on every image I took from AP to make sure there wasn’t an issue. The Premier League, for instance, blocked any use of their logo, so you had to use images of teams from the FA or League Cups instead.One not-Spanish La Liga team actually had a blanket ban on all gambling use of their team images – except for by their official gambling partner! One English bookie decided their law was all that mattered and used shots of a certain diminutive Argentinian to promote Champions League bets; the team did a little research, tracked down illegal use of images over five years and sued them for the total money staked on them over those five years!
So she’s doing something good, yet the AV Club still rubs it all over with its inane snark. Ugh. I’ve been a longtime defender of this site post-when-it-went-to-shit, but ugh.
I hope they’ve learned their lesson, and obtain Graham Greene’s permission before they use his image to sell craft Bull Butter.
The diminished AV Club’s sanctimony and pearl clutching about every damn transgression in the realm of identity politics is apparent in almost every paragraph. So why is it acceptable to still dog pile on Tara Reid at every opportunity? She’s a bit goofy and apparently has some “issues” but plenty of others with similar issues get a pass here.