According to CNN, Muhammad Ali Enterprises wants $30 million for Ali's inclusion in a 3-minute Super Bowl commercial that ran on Fox this year without permission.
The suit alleges that the 3-minute video may have reached over 111 million viewers of the Super Bowl and that Fox could've sold it to other advertisers for a total of $30 million.
The lawsuit, which was federally-filed Tuesday, accuses the advertisement of featuring a narrator that was a boxer shown from behind and meant to be Ali.
"Walk with me," the narrator said. "Walk with me as I confront greatness."
In the ad, which was the super bowl opener, the boxer is shown wearing a robe that says "The Greatest. The Lip." There's also footage of Ali boxing and a recording of him shouting "I am the Greatest!"
The issue comes because Muhammad Ali Enterprises owns the rights to Ali's likeliness, and no permission was obtained by Fox. In a release, Muhammad Ali Enterprise's lead counsel said that "Fox obtained great value by using Muhammad Ali to promote itself. It should pay for what it took."
Word to the wise: Don't play with people's money, and always get things in writing.
You can check out the ad below.
We will see how this suit plays out. Do you think Fox needs to pay up? Were they out of line, or is Ali's Enterprise overreacting? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
