Johnny Ramone’s estate sues over Netflix’s Joey Ramone biopic

Johnny Ramone’s estate has sued Mickey Leigh over an upcoming biopic about Joey Ramone entitled I Slept With Joey Ramone, starring Pete Davidson.

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According to Billboard, Johnny Ramone’s widow, Linda, filed a lawsuit in Manhattan court on Saturday (January 21), claiming that Leigh – real name Mitchel Hyman – “covertly developed an unapproved and unauthorized Ramones-based biopic” based on his “one-sided recitation of the history of the Ramones”.

While the lawsuit does not explicitly name Netflix as a defendant in the case, Linda Ramone’s representatives stated that the film being referred to is based on Leigh’s memoir, I Slept With Joey Ramone, which Netflix announced to be producing in 2021. While the streaming platform then stated that the film had the support of the Joey Ramone estate, Linda’s lawsuit objected to its production unless it also gained her approval. Linda and Leigh both own equal shares in the Ramones’ intellectual property, and represent Johnny and Joey Ramone’s respective estates.

“Ms. Ramone objects to defendants’ attempt to create a Ramones film without her involvement — not to be obstinate, but rather based on defendants’ disregard for [Ramones] assets and their conduct and treatment of Ms. Ramone and her late husband,” Linda’s attorneys write. “To permit defendants alone to tell the authoritative story of the Ramones would be an injustice to the band and its legacy.”

Billboard’s report notes that Linda Ramone’s lawsuit also makes various other allegations involving both Leigh and David Frey, who was appointed by Leigh to oversee the Ramones’ holding company. Her attorneys claimed that the pair had mismanaged the company and withheld payments from her, alleging that they appeared willing to “allow the band’s legacy to decay”.

“It is apparent from defendants’ continuing course of conduct that their main objective is to torment Ms. Ramone until she agrees to sell her interests,” they wrote. “Regrettably, Defendants appear willing to allow the band’s legacy to decay, in order to benefit their own self-interest.”

As representatives of Johnny and Joey Ramone, who respectively died of different forms of cancer in 2004 and 2001, Linda and Leigh have notably maintained a less than favourable legal relationship over the years. In 2019, the pair settled a long-standing dispute over the use of the ‘Ramone’ name, after Linda changed her surname to Ramone in 2014, illicitly used the Ramone name on social media, and intended to rename her Los Angeles home ‘Ramone Ranch’.

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.”