According to a new report, the Columbian drug queenpin's children, led by her son Michael, are trying to stop the release of the 6-part series on January 25.
- January 20, 2024
AceShowbiz - Sofia Vergara and Netflix face a lawsuit by the estate of late Columbian drug queenpin Griselda Blanco over the streamer's "Griselda". A new report reveals that Blanco's children, led by her son Michael, are trying to stop the release of the 6-part series on January 25.
In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the "Modern Family" alum and Netflix are named as defendants. According to the news outlet, the late queenpin's children slam the streaming giant for its "unauthorized use of their family's image and likeness" and ask a judge for an injunction.
Michael and his siblings additionally accuse Netflix of ripping off his family's story to incorporate it into the plotline of "Griselda". While the suit doesn't state that Netflix cannot dramatize Blanco, her children are not happy with how Netflix used details provided by the family without giving them any financial compensation.
He claims in the lawsuit that "Griselda" used a lot of the anecdotes and material from his interviews from 2009 through 2022. Michael adds that he's been trying to develop his mother's life story into a book, adding that unnamed parties told him that they'd pitch his ideas around Hollywood in 2016.
At one point, he had a meeting with Netflix which allegedly was interested in his plan. However, he claimed that the streamer didn't want to use any of the information from the interviews he had done.
Prior to this, Michael slammed the show and Vergara for rejecting his offer to consult on the project. Speaking with Daily Mail, he called it a "slap in the face." He also noted that if his mother was still alive, they "wouldn't have got away with it."
Michael was also not a fan of Vergara's "disrespectful" decision to use facial prosthetics in order to transform into his mother. "My mother was a beautiful woman and it's crazy that a lot of people say, 'No, you've got to look more like a drug addict'... The fact that they call her 'ugly' that really offends me," he said at the time.
On "Griselda", Vergara was almost unrecognizable as she transformed for the role. In addition to starring, the "America's Got Talent" judge serves as an executive producer for the series.
