Wayans Brothers SUED For Stealing Book Idea

NEW YORK — A former assistant to the Wayans Brothers has sued the comedy team for unspecified damages, saying they snatched his "You know you're a Golddigger ..." book and published it as their own.

Jared Edwards of Los Angeles filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday against Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans and St. Martin's Press.

The lawsuit said Edwards worked as an assistant for a decade beginning in 1995.

It said in 2005 he wrote jokes about women who seek wealth and status through romance.

He said the brothers rejected his book, but in May published their own: "101 Ways to Know You're a Golddigger.'

St. Martin's Press did not immediately return a call for comment.

Comments

[skippy20008]

05:56 PM on 12/20/2009

Shouldn't Jeff Foxworthy be in on the suit. "You know you're a Golddigger­..." gee, that doesn't sound anything like, "you might be redneck...­"

And, frankly, 50% of the Wayans income should be given to Richard Pryor's estate.

[jemiltd]

04:17 PM on 12/20/2009

Funny, this was rumored some time ago, that they stole work. Never knew if it was true, dishearten­ing to hear that it might be. Writers beware and be sure to get that NDA.

[luvly56]

01:43 PM on 12/20/2009

They have always been funny and will still be funny if they were back in the spotlight again. But I hope the didnt steal someone else idea because they suddenly found themselves without their own. This isnt a surprise to me. People take esperate measure to succeed in success.

[jessicajuliette]

12:29 AM on 12/20/2009

if he was in their employ at the time, his work product may be their property..­.

[the964kid]

04:14 PM on 12/19/2009

'In Living Color' was good, but these guys have been pretty weak ever since. I won't be surprised if its true.

[Galong]

05:36 AM on 12/20/2009

You didn't like any of the Scary Movies? White Chicks? Little Man? These guys have been funny since In Living Color in my opinion.

[mypov123]

02:04 PM on 12/19/2009

If the former assistant can provide some type of documentat­ion to help prove that he had the idea for a book on gold diggers first, then he has a stronger case against the Wayans. Although the Wayans family's style of comedy tends to be on the crass side lol, In Living Color was a pretty good show considerin­g there aren't really any good sketch comedy shows today.

[Joye]

12:26 AM on 12/19/2009

It's a shame if this is true! I loved Keenen's program "In Living Color". Classic!

[NoraHuffster]

10:44 AM on 12/18/2009

If true, I hope they are found culpable and ordered to pay through the nose. Nothing I despise more than a wealthy celebrity demanding free ideas when they can pay for it and should give due credit.

[SharonaMonk]

02:31 PM on 12/18/2009

I agree.

[LittleSanityLeft]

03:24 PM on 12/18/2009

You can't copy right an idea. Ideas are a dime a dozen, it's the work that matters. Lot's of folks have great script ideas, ideas for a great sitcom ideas for a new invention and nothing ever comes of it.
Now if they stole they guys jokes, his actual work, then there's probably a case here but somehow I doubt it.

[injinplease]

04:17 AM on 12/19/2009

you can copy write an idea , thats what copy write is for . You then take an idea an trade mark it . The item in question is the same template for" you might be a redneck if " . The guy did pitch the idea and wrote the jokes that were the pitch that sold the book so they are not coming up with "the work " it's easy to bake a cake if you know the ingredient­s . All three of these Wayons are known to use writers and take credit , john Bowman wrote scary movie , Damon is the only one that kept his creditabil­ity .

[wonkguy]

10:14 AM on 12/19/2009

Huh? Copy rights are issued for ideas all the time. What you can't copy right are facts, as in the news or baseball scores. This guys problem however might lie in the fact that he was paid staff for the Wayans. Depending on the contract or agreement they had with the guy, they may own any idea he came up with while employed by them.

[Jasel]

09:33 AM on 12/18/2009

Hope it's not true. I've always been a fan of the Wayans brothes. But if it is then that's pretty sleazy.

[ibivi]

10:15 AM on 12/18/2009

They stopped being funny about 10 years ago. When you run out of ideas you "borrow" from someone else.

[Atmus]

11:02 AM on 12/18/2009

White Chicks had some pretty funny moments and My Wife and Kids is usually funny tv show.

We will see with White Chicks 2 coming out.

[ProperGanda]

08:43 AM on 12/18/2009

I miss reruns of In Living Color. Those old shows are ten times better than anything on SNL nowadays

[HDR]

09:06 AM on 12/18/2009

Anything is 10x better than anything on SNL nowadays!

[Cakey4814]

10:06 AM on 12/18/2009

I bought the first season cd and bought back so many memories..­too funny..

[mypov123]

02:19 PM on 12/19/2009

IMO, Jamie Foxx's "Wanda" character and "Ms. Benita" were some of the best characters on the show LOL.