Mickey Leigh, the brother of Joey Ramone, has filed a countersuit against Linda Ramone, widow of Johnny Ramone, over the upcoming Netflix biopic entitled I Slept with Joey Ramone, starring Pete Davidson. Johnny’s estate had previously sued Leigh in January, claiming he had developed “an unapproved and unauthorized Ramones-based biopic.” Linda then claimed Leigh had developed the biopic based on a “one-sided recitation of the history of the Ramones.”
However, Leigh’s lawyers deny this claim, as well as asserting that Linda had approved a Ramones biopic several years ago. The countersuit goes on to accuse Linda of having “an alternate agenda, including her own fame and vanity, as well as a self-serving desire to obstruct projects and control RPI for reasons which conflict with her fiduciary duties and cause her to avoid any modicum of cooperation with Mr. Hyman.”
Linda and Leigh both own equal shares in the Ramones’ intellectual property, representing Johnny and Joey Ramone’s respective estates. Linda’s attorneys argue that the film being referred to is based on Leigh’s own memoir and do not explicitly name Netflix as a defendant in the case. Linda objects to the defendants’ attempt to create a Ramones film without her involvement as it would “be an injustice to the band and its legacy.”
Linda and Leigh have had a less than favorable legal relationship over the years, notably settling a long-standing dispute over the use of the “Ramone” name in 2019. The arbitration resulted in Linda Cummings-Ramone being barred from renaming her home “Ramone Ranch,” though she was allowed to name it “Johnny Ramone Ranch” or “Linda Ramone Ranch” instead. Leigh was also barred from obstructing Linda’s attempts to obtain trademarks for the names Johnny Ramone and Linda Ramone.
The Joey Ramone biopic was announced to be co-written by Davidson and directed by his frequent collaborator, Jason Orley. In Netflix’s press release at the time of the film’s announcement, Adam Fogelson, chairman of the film’s production company STXfilms stated: “‘I Slept with Joey Ramone’ is a great rock anthem that will make an equally great rock biopic, set apart by a universal story of family.”
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