Keenan, Shawn and Marlon Wayans are due in a Los Angeles federal court next month to defend allegations from a former assistant that they ripped off his jokes for their book, “You Know You’re a Golddigger When…”
Jared Edwards worked for the comedy family for a decade and wrote jokes about women who prey upon wealthy men. He claims he pitched the idea for book that would include material like “You know you’re a golddigger when you know more about sports players’ stats than an ESPN analyst.”
According to Edwards’ lawsuit, the Wayans brothers rejected the idea, then allegedly did their own version.
Edwards is claiming that the Wayans Bros. (and St. Martin’s Press) not only committed copyright infringement but also breached an implied promise to pay him for use of his ideas.
The book was far from a best-seller, so the judge has capped a damage award to the amount of money the Wayans got as an advance for writing the book, foreclosing any of the publisher’s profits.
