Chris Rock Sued for $5 Million

(Oct. 7) Filmmaker Regina Kimbell filed a complaint Monday for copyright infringement and unfair competition against actor and comedian Chris Rock, alleging he stole her idea for his film “Good Hair,” after she screened her 2005 documentary, “My Nappy Roots” for Rock in 2007 on the set of his show, “Everybody Hates Chris.”

Kimbell’s “My Nappy Roots” features celebrities and other black women discussing hair techniques and styles such as the Afro, dreadlocks and Jheri curls.  Rock’s “Good Hair” also features celebrities to look at what black women go through to keep their hair looking more like their white counterparts.

Kimbell argues that the similarities between the two films are undeniable:

Both films are “socially and politically conscious”; both films were inspired by the filmmakers’ respective daughters; each film includes interviews with medical professionals; each film looks at how India is involved in the use of weaves; both films have comedians to add “comic relief”; both have “celebrities tell their own hair stories”; and both tour a “manufacturing plant where hair relaxers are made.”

Kimbell’s "Nappy Roots" documentary won the award for best documentary in 2007 at the Pan African Film Festival.

Kimbell filed her complaint in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and seeks “no less than $5 million in damages and attorney’s fees.”

Rock’s film is slated for limited theatrical release Friday.