Summary
- Actor Roger Clark, known for his role in Red Dead Redemption 2, commented on the Florida Joker's demand for money from Rockstar for parodying him in the GTA 6 trailer.
- Rockstar has a history of satirizing real-life figures and facing legal challenges, such as with Lindsy Lohan and the Pinkerton detective agency.
- The character in the GTA 6 trailer is not an exact recreation of Lawrence Sullivan, so he may have limited grounds for legal action, but his newfound notoriety could potentially benefit him.
Roger Clark, the actor behind Red Dead Redemption 2’s Arthur Morgan, recently commented on the so-called Florida Joker’s demands for money from Rockstar following his parody in the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer. Rockstar finally gave fans their first look at the next Grand Theft Auto game earlier this month, and the franchise’s trademark satirization of modern American culture seems to be present and accounted for in GTA 6 so far. Mere days after the trailer went live, fans started comparing the scenes featured in it with real-life news footage and photos from Florida, which Grand Theft Auto 6’s fictional state of Leonida is based on.
One of the most striking moments in Grand Theft Auto 6’s trailer was a brief shot of a tattooed criminal being taken to court - especially since it seems to be inspired by a real-life mugshot that went viral in 2017. Lawrence Sullivan gained the nickname of the Florida Joker due to his face tattoos resembling the DC Comics villain and the comparisons between himself and the criminal shown in the GTA 6 reveal trailer weren’t lost on him. Shortly after the trailer was posted, Sullivan posted a video response in which he seemingly demanded money from Rockstar for using his likeness.
Images Compare Grand Theft Auto 6 Trailer to Real Life
Players have compared images from the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer to real-life locations and have found striking similarities.
Now Roger Clark, who famously played outlaw Arthur Morgan in Rockstar’s critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2, has weighed in on the Grand Theft Auto 6 Florida Joker situation with a TikTok video of his own. In it, Clark wasted little time pointing out that Rockstar’s writers have been parodying famous (and infamous) real-life figures for years, and have enough lawyers and understanding of the law to make any attempt to successfully sue them futile.
Sure enough, Rockstar’s attempts at satirizing celebrities and other aspects of American culture have drawn the ire of their subjects over the past few decades. Lindsy Lohan once tried to sue the studio for seemingly modeling a character after her in Grand Theft Auto 5, but her case was ultimately dismissed in 2018. Likewise, the real-life Pinkerton detective agency attempted a lawsuit of its own for its portrayal in Red Dead Redemption 2 back in 2019.
If I were you, I would use the notoriety that [Rockstar] just threw your way to my advantage. Capitalize on it somehow. You ain’t getting a job at Home Depot with that face.
As many fans have pointed out, the Florida Joker-like character shown in the recent Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer isn’t an exact recreation of Lawrence Sullivan’s now-infamous mugshot, so there might be enough deniability to dismiss any legal action taken by him. Still, as Roger Clark has just pointed out, Sullivan now has some notoriety after seemingly being parodied in Grand Theft Auto 6, which is expected to be one of the biggest games of all time when it eventually launches in 2025.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Released
- November 19, 2026
- ESRB
- Rating Pending - Likely Mature 17+
- Developer(s)
- Rockstar Games
- Publisher(s)
- Rockstar Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Grand Theft Auto VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet.
Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.
- Franchise
- Grand Theft Auto
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
