Tyrese is suing the widow of singer Teddy Pendergrass for the rights to his life story. Tyrese, through his production company Voltron Entertainment, claims to have been working on a Pendergrass biopic since 2013 with the permission of Pendergrass' widow, Joan. However, Tyrese has now alleged that Joan has refused to extend the option to the story's rights. "Sadly things had to come to this….Another Philadelphia legend Lee Daniels is attached direct me as Teddy. This has been 13 years+ years in the makin this man embraced me when he was on this earth and shared to me “No one can play me in my biopic but you Tyrese I’m sure of it”…. -TP," Tyrese said in a rambling Instagram post. While the post did not mention a lawsuit, the legal avenue was confirmed to TMZ.
Pendergrass, an R&B icon, passed away in 2010. That's around the same time that Tyrese claims to have begun work on the biopic. The primary reason for the lawsuit appears to be to prevent "undue financial harm" to Voltron Entertainment. According to Tyrese and other sources, the company has spent around $450,000 on the production of the film over the last decade. However, there is very little information about just where in production the film is beyond the fact that Tyrese intends to play Teddy. As mentioned, director Lee Daniels (The Butler, Empire, The United States vs. Billie Holiday) is reportedly set to direct.
Tyrese Accused Of Lying In Home Depot Suit
However, suing Joan Pendergrass is not the only legal matter Tyrese finds himself in. The actor and musician is currently embroiled in a legal battle against Home Depot over alleged racial discrimination. Tyrese alleges that a cashier at one of the hardware store's locations racially profiled two of his associates. He claims that the cashier refused to let them make a purchase using his credit card.
However, Home Depot refuted the claim. The chain states that Gibson had brought several items to a register and then left them unattended to continue shopping. The cashier in question cleared his transaction to continue serving other customers, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ. In response to this, he took to Instagram to call out Home Depot's Trump-supporting founder, Bernard Marcus.
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