Jay-Z is in a serious legal beef with one of hip-hop’s most well-known photographers – Jonathan Mannion.
According to TMZ.com, Jay-Z is suing Mannion for millions, claiming the shutterbug is using his name and image without the proper permission.
Jay-Z said he warned Mannion before filing the lawsuit, however Mannion and his company Jonathan Mannion Photography LLC demanded tens of millions of dollars.
Jay-Z’s lawsuit claims the photographer thinks that just because he took the pictures, that he has a right to exploit them as he sees fit.
As a result, Mannion continues to exploit Jay-Z’s image, which is being sold on pictures and merchandise on Mannion’s website.
“It is ironic that a photographer would treat the image of a formerly unknown Black teenager, now widely successful, as a piece of property, to be squeezed for every dollar it can produce. It stops today” Jay-Z’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
Over the years, Jonathan Mannion has been the go-to photographer for some of hip-hop’s best-known artists. Rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Outkast, Dr. Dre, and Nicki Minaj have all worked with Mannion.
And Mannion himself has been known to sue people who illegally exploit the famous images he has snapped.
So far, Jonathan Mannion has yet to reply to Jay-Z’s lawsuit.