When Hustlers was released in theaters, it became the subject of critical and commercial acclaim, with Jennifer Lopez’s performance as Ramona garnering high praise. Now, the producers of Hustlers have emerged victorious from a libel suit from Samantha Barbash, the woman who inspired Jennifer Lopez’s character. the suit was filed against STXfilms, Gloria Sanchez Productions and Lopez’s Nuroyrican Productions.
Barbash claimed that the film exploited her likeness without her permission and defamed her, especially when it came to drug use in the film. However, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote dismissed the libel suit, determining that Hustlers, didn’t include Barbash’s “name, portrait, picture, or voice” in the marketing of the movie and therefore didn’t exploit her.
The judge also concluded Barbash didn’t succeed in proving her defamation claim. Barbash argued that Hustlers suggested she developed the recipe for the drugs used to incapacitate victims to gain control of their credit cards. Cote pointed out that Barbash pled guilty to drugging victims without their consent in open court and admitted it in the film’s source material, a New Yorker article by Jessica Pressler.
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Photo: STXfilms
