‘Gorgeous George’ Doesn’t Approve of How His Name Has Been Slammed
Father’s Day . . . Madonna’s $5-million cameo . . . Who’s in Charge?
As far as we’re concerned, the only gorgeous George who matters is George Clooney. But a retired pro wrestler is suing a porn Web site in federal court over the use of the name “Gorgeous George.”
Randy “Macho Man” Savage says he owns the rights to the moniker “Gorgeous George.” According to his suit, Savage licensed the name temporarily to Stephanie Bellars, who used it to create her own wrestling persona a couple of years ago.
Turns out the female Gorgeous George made a sexually graphic video before finding her true calling in pro wrestling. That video fell into the hands of Seattle smut entrepreneur Seth Warshavsky, who is best known for unleashing the explicit Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee honeymoon video through his Clublove.com Web site.
Bellars’ license for the Gorgeous George name expired earlier this year, says the Macho Man’s suit. Still, Warshavsky is using the female Gorgeous George character to promote Bellars’ skin flick. Savage wants Warshavsky and his company, Internet Entertainment Group, to stop the alleged trademark infringement.
IEG’s use of the Gorgeous George trademark to market pornography “has severely damaged or destroyed its value as a service mark to identify a professional wrestling character,” states the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
SEVEN-YEAR ITCH: A paramour who won a paternity suit against Steve Garvey seven years ago is taking him back to Los Angeles Superior Court, charging in a lawsuit that the former Dodger and his wife, Candace, hid their income to “deprive” an 11-year-old boy “of the proper child support to which he is entitled.”
Rebecka L. Mendenhall accuses the Garveys and their financial advisors of fraudulently understating their income and filing documents that indicated they were on the brink of bankruptcy.
According to the suit, Garvey denied he was the boy’s father, but paternity was established in Los Angeles Superior Court in February 1993. Garvey was ordered to pay Mendenhall $2,150 a month in child support, as well as $125 a month for health and life insurance.
In 1996, the suit states, Garvey allegedly underreported his income and did not disclose his interest in Garvey Management Inc. Mendenhall says she discovered the company during a court proceeding in March. Garvey said he had no interest in the company, which was owned by his wife.
Mendenhall claims in the suit that she also discovered a sham, $606,000 promissory note Garvey signed over to his wife. She seeks more than $2 million in lost child support and damages.
MATERIAL WORLD: A film company is suing Madonna and her production company for $5 million, alleging that the Material Girl backed out of a promise to make a cameo appearance in a flick called “Going Down.”
Millenium Films Inc. filed the suit in Superior Court in Santa Monica. According to the papers, an agent representing Madonna and her company, Madguy Entertainment Inc., made the offer in 1998. According to the suit, the deal involved Millenium’s assuming a coproducer’s role and lining up financing. In return, Madguy would turn over rights to the literary material for the film and supply the services of Madonna; Guy Oseary, another Madguy honcho; and Caresse Norman, Madonna’s manager and personal assistant.
A month after the deal was struck, however, Norman told Millenium that Madonna was not available.
“This has brought the production of the picture to a standstill and has exposed plaintiff to potential litigation from third-party financiers of the picture,” the suit says.
Madonna was supposed to play a character named Brandy in the film. As everyone with a television set knows, Madonna is a new mama. Her boy Rocco recently was named one of the most eligible bachelors in Britain, even though he’s still in nappies.
WHO’S THE BOSS? A Los Angeles record company says it has kicked its president, Randy Jackson--brother of Michael and Janet--off its board of directors. And the company is suing Jackson for mismanagement.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Modern Records Inc. accuses the Jackson sib of failing to pay quarterly employee withholding taxes and health insurance premiums. The suit also alleges that Jackson misspent promotions money--most notably on apartments for him and a girlfriend, and to pay off charges the couple ran up on their credit cards. And, the suit states, he failed to disclose that he previously had filed for bankruptcy.
According to the suit, matters came to a head on Sept. 22, when the company elected a new board of directors--sans Jackson. A shareholders meeting also was held, and Jackson was removed as president.
According to the suit, Jackson refuses to recognize the ouster, saying the election was invalid. He also issued a news release saying he’s still the boss at Modern Records. He continues to occupy the company’s Beverly Hills office, the suit says.
Modern is asking Superior Court Judge Alexander H. Williams III to declare the ouster legal, issue a court order enjoining Jackson from meddling with company business, spending company money or bad-mouthing other board members and executives. It also seeks to boot him from the Beverly Hills office. Modern also is demanding more than $500,000 in damages. Randy Jackson could not be reached.
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