Aricle courtesy of examiner.com
Billy Ray Cyrus, facing charges he stole the idea for his
new CMT sitcom, 'Still The King,' speaks to advertisers about the show at the
upfronts event in New York.
Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for CMT
Country musician Billy Ray Cyrus may soon have an Achy
Breaky Heart and an Achy Breaky wallet if allegations that he unlawfully used a
Florida screenwriter’s movie script as inspiration for his new Country Music
Television (CMT) sitcom are proven true (click here to listen). The details of
the allegations, along with the announcement that a lawsuit will be filed were
confirmed by examiner.com during a telephone interview on Thursday, April 16
with the writer making the charges.
The allegations against Billy Ray Cyrus stem back to events
in 2011 when screenwriter and South Florida political activist Jay Schorr was
looking for a performer to star in his newly written movie entitled, “Elvis
Came Back to Manage Me.” The comedic movie centers around Elvis Presley, the
illegitimate, alcoholic country musician son Elvis didn’t know he had, and a
second chance at life for both of them in their newly found relationship.
Schorr says he sent his script to Cyrus back in 2011 at the
request of Cyrus’s then manager, Stuart Dill. Schorr provided examiner.com with
a copy of the email Dill sent him in which Dill says, "BRC would like to
see a script." When Schorr tried to follow-up with Dill to see how Dill
and Cyrus liked the script, Schorr says Dill wouldn’t return his emails or
phone calls. After attempting for three months to get in touch with Cyrus and
Dill, Schorr gave up.
In 2012, just months after receiving Schorr’s script, Cyrus
shot a pilot for “Still The King” in Tennessee, a sitcom featuring Cyrus in the
starring role as an Elvis Presley impersonator.
Dissolve to April 2015. CMT announced on Thursday, April 2
it had picked up Cyrus’ sitcom, “Still The King,” which features Cyrus in the
starring role as Vernon Brown, an alcoholic one-hit wonder turned Elvis Presley
impersonator. When Brown crashes into a church, he’s ordered by a judge to do
community service. Instead, Brown pretends to be the church’s new minister to
avoid doing the community service. Along the way he discovers he has a
15-year-old daughter. The show is set to debut sometime in early 2016.
“When I first heard about Billy Ray Cyrus’ new CMT sitcom, I
couldn’t believe that of all the characters he could have used, he chose Elvis
Presley!” said Schorr. “And to hear his explanation as to how he allegedly came
up with the idea … give me a break!”
The ‘how,’ Cyrus explained at the CMT upfront advertising
event in New York earlier this month, is that he was riding on his tour bus
when it made a stop for gas on the Gulf Coast. Cyrus got off the bus to walk
his dog and thought about how Elvis Presley performed in the region at the
start of his career. He also saw a church in the distance, and when he got back
on the bus things came together for the CMT sitcom.
According to Schorr, things came together for Cyrus after he
read Schorr’s ‘Elvis’ script months before.
“Elvis drove a tour bus in my script!” said an emphatic
Schorr. “He also met the son he never knew he had. Yeah, I guess every sitcom
idea developed includes an Elvis character and other elements from my script.
It’s not like there are any other characters in the entire world that Billy Ray
Cyrus could have come up with!”
When contacted by examiner.com about the allegations, Billy
Ray Cyrus’ manager, Dave Downey, refused comment. He forwarded this reporter’s
questions to Cyrus’ lawyer, Tom Greenberg, a partner in the high-powered
Hollywood law firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano.
Rather than answer any of this reporter’s questions,
Greenberg chose to try to switch the focus of the inquiry to Schorr.
“The most cursory search of Mr. Schorr reveals that he has
filed multiple such claims in the past against other parties. We suggest that
be the focus of your reporting,” said Greenberg, sounding more like a magician
trying to get an audience member to look at his right hand while performing sleight
of hand with his left.
The “multiple such claims” alleged by Greenberg turned out
to be only one lawsuit which, upon review, actually bolsters Schorr’s
credibility. Public records indicate that Schorr filed an idea misappropriation
lawsuit in 2009 against Chrysler and its media agencies BBDO and PHD Media. The
case was settled out of court for an undisclosed monetary amount. The law firm
representing the defendants has a history of not settling nuisance lawsuits.
Having not answered a single one of this reporter’s
questions, and after trying to redirect examiner.com’s attention to Schorr
rather than address the merits or lack thereof of Schorr’s allegations – a
legal tactic common in rape cases where defense lawyers place blame on the
victim rather than focus on the accused - Greenberg told examiner.com, “The
facts speak for themselves.”
I wasn’t exactly sure as to what facts Greenberg was
referring, because he refused to address any facts at all. And if the facts
were speaking for themselves, they were speaking in very hushed, imperceptible
tones.
Schorr shared with examiner.com a recorded message he sent
to Greenberg which Schorr said, “pretty much sums up my position.” The
recording begins with a deep-voiced announcer saying, “Billy Ray Cyrus may have
been a very naughty boy.” The message asks Cyrus to “come clean” about his
sitcom and then admonishes Cyrus with “We all know the truth, Billy Ray. And
the truth is ‘Still The King.’”
