FOX’s “The Real” has been under turmoil for months after the sudden and shocking firing of former co-host Tamar Braxton. And while producers have been working steadily to repair the damage to the show’s image and find a replacement for Braxton, news reports have now revealed that they have a new issue to worry about because Tatyana Ali has decided to file a lawsuit against Warner Bros, claiming they stole her idea for “The Real.”
According to media reports, in the lawsuit, Ali claims that she originally pitched her idea for a show like “The Real” to Warner Bros and Telepictures back in 2012.
Her idea included “a unique and innovative format, which featured an eclectic group of engaging female celebrity hosts, each aged within their 20’s and 30’s … designed to pique the interest of the younger side of the mid-life/mid-career female population and featured a variety of contemporary discussion topics in a relaxed and informal setting.”
However, execs “decided to decline” on her show idea and did not give the show a test run.
However, to Ali’s shock, six months later, “The Real” debuted on TV for a test run as a “direct production” of Ali’s idea and it featured Adrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Tamara Mowry as hosts.
“With a great deal of disappointment and complete disbelief,” the suit says, Ali “witnessed [her] concept come to life on major network television at the hands of the Defendant Corporations.”
“The five female host panel cast members very closely embody and mirror the personal and professional profiles of the specific and potential female celebrity hosts openly proposed in writing and in discussion by the Plaintiff during ‘pitch’ meetings she held with the Executives,” the suit says. “The Defendant Corporations did not at any time, directly or indirectly, acknowledge the use of the Plaintiff’s Concept.”
Ali is now suing Warner Bros and Telepictures for allegedly stealing her show idea and she’s seeking unspecified damages from “all rightful gains, profits, and advantages derived by the Defendants” and the formation of a collective trust for Ali of “designated percentages of the proceeds resulting from past, current and future production and airing of The Real television program.”
Well, what do you think of Ali’s lawsuit? Let us know in the comments.
