Mike Tyson is being sued by the producer of the 1998 Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule song “Murdergram” for allegedly featuring the track in an Instagram video promoting his fight against Jake Paul last year without permission.
The claims come in a legal complaint filed Thursday (Aug. 7) by Ty Fyffe, who co-wrote and produced “Murdergram” for Jay-Z’s 1998 film Streets Is Watching. While the song, released by Murder Inc., features Jay (Shawn Carter), DMX (Earl Simmons) and Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins), none of those artists or their representatives are involved in the lawsuit.
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It’s Fyffe only who takes issue with Tyson using “Murdergram” in a 33-second Instagram video of him training for his blockbuster fight against Paul in November. The alleged Instagram post is no longer on Tyson’s page, but Fyffe’s lawsuit includes screenshots of the video captioned, “You know what time it is #PaulTyson”.
“Neither plaintiff nor any of his representatives granted defendant Tyson permission to use the song title ‘Murdergram’ to promote his boxing match with Jake Paul,” reads the complaint. “By listing the song title ‘Murdergram’ on his Instagram post, defendant Tyson misled viewers to believe that plaintiff endorsed, or was affiliated or associated with, him and/or his participation in the match.”
Fyffe claims Tyson’s use of “Murdergram” in this video helped drive viewership of his fight with Paul, which was watched live by more than 100 million people and broke Netflix viewing records. The producer cites reports that Tyson was paid more than $20 million for the fight, and he alleges that the attention from the match boosted sales of the boxer’s apparel and cannabis products.
Now, Fyffe says he’s entitled to a cut of Tyson’s profits from the fight, as well as the royalties he should have been paid for the use of “Murdergram” in the Instagram post.
“Defendant Tyson’s conduct was intentional, willful and with full knowledge of plaintiff’s copyright in the song,” says the complaint. “As a consequence of defendant Tyson’s infringement, plaintiff has suffered, and will continue to suffer, economic losses and damage to his copyright in the song.”
Reps for Tyson did not immediately return a request for comment on the claims.
