Rap Lawsuit Alleges Privacy Invasion

Five current and former Detroit officials have sued rapper Dr. Dre (real name: Andre Young) and others involved in the production of a DVD, saying their privacy was invaded. Defendants in the lawsuit, filed yesterday (April 24) in U.S. District Court, include Up In Smoke Tour headliner Dr. Dre; Magic Johnson, whose company helped produce the tour; AOL Time Warner, which distributed and marketed the DVD; Best Buy, which sold it; and Panavision, which provided cameras for the concert staff.

The lawsuit alleges that "a hidden camera and microphones were secretly used to intercept, eavesdrop upon, and record" exchanges between city officials and tour organizers.

Up In Smoke was a major rap tour featuring Eminem and Snoop Dogg that came to Detroit and Auburn Hills, Mich., in the summer of 2000. Officials in both cities threatened to punish tour organizers if they showed a sexually explicit video as part of the show.

An exchange between Detroit city leaders and tour organizers in a back room at Joe Louis Arena became a bonus track on the "Up In Smoke" DVD released after the tour.

"What would you do if somebody took your image and put it on a T-shirt or a product and started making millions of dollars off it without your consent?" attorney Glenn Oliver told the Detroit Free Press today.

Herschel Fink, whose law firm represents Dr. Dre and also is named in the suit, called the charges "basically comic."

Detroit officials succeeded in keeping the video from being shown during the Up In Smoke tour stop there, but were later slapped with a $25 million lawsuit filed by Dr. Dre. In October, the city settled the suit, paying the rap mogul $25,000 and apologizing for infringing on his free speech rights.


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