Linda Ramone sues Mickey Leigh over Pete Davidson Ramones Biopic

A few year sago, it was announced that Mickey Leigh was working on a Ramones/Joey Ramone biopic, starring Pete Davidson. Well, in January, Linda Ramone, wife of the late Johnny Ramone and 50% owner of RPI, the entity that controls Ramones intellectual property, filed a suit against Leigh in a Manhattan court. The basis of the suit is that Leigh is not legally permitted to release a Ramones biopic without Linda's involvement/permission. As part of the suit, Linda states: "Ms. Ramone objects to defendants’ attempt to create a Ramones film without her involvement — not to be obstinate, but rather based on defendants’ disregard for [Ramones] assets and their conduct and treatment of Ms. Ramone and her late husband.To permit defendants alone to tell the authoritative story of the Ramones would be an injustice to the band and its legacy.”
The suit also included related claims against Leigh's handling of RPI in general. It states that Leigh and David Frey, a director of the Ramones’ holding company, have effectively stopped RPI from moving forward due lack of communication. refusual to issue payments, and refusal to meet. The suit states: ""It is apparent from defendants’ continuing course of conduct that their main objective is to torment Ms. Ramone until she agrees to sell her interests. Regrettably, Defendants appear willing to allow the band’s legacy to decay, in order to benefit their own self-interest."
This matter resurfaced in the news this week as the opposing sides are filing pleadings with the court. Leigh posted a number of declarations from CJ Ramone, which, apparently, stated that Leigh was indeed reasonable for malfeasance in regards to RPI and that, according to CJ, Joey specifically left his share of Ramones rights to his mother, and not to Leigh, because he did not want his brother to have control over Ramones material. (It is unclear why Leigh would specifically want to repost material that is apparently against his self-interest).However, as of this norning, Leigh has deleted those posts.
Interestingly, this latest scuffle follows a 2022 sale of Joey Ramones publishing. In that sale, Leigh sold Joey band and solo publishing for $10 million to Primary Wave, a company that specifically purchases publishing from various artists and adds it into a portfolio of publishing assets.
Linda Ramone has not issued a public statement.We'll keep you updated.