Drake and LeBron James have been accused of stealing the rights to Black Ice, their upcoming documentary about a segregated hockey league.
LeBron James and Drake are being sued by Billy Hunter, who happens to be the former NBA Players Union player, according to TMZ. This news comes in light of the fact that LeBron and Drake are in the midst of producing a documentary about the Colored Hockey League that existed in the Canadian Maritimes between 1895 and 1925. The LeBron and Drake documentary is based on a book by George and Darril. Fosty called “Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925”. Hunter is claiming that he is the only one who has the rights to any kind of movie on this subject, as he paid $265K for the rights to everything.
LeBron James, left, and Drake pose together
In the lawsuit, Hunter claims Drake and LeBron used their production companies to sign a deal with George and Darril Fosty, the authors behind Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925 in which they based his documentary. After confronting the authors about his deal with Drizzy and LeBron, he claims they said he didn’t violate the deal because it’s a documentary – not a movie.
According to Hunter, George and Darril Fosty’s claim is “absurd and made in bad faith.” He is seeking a cut of the documentary’s profits, in addition to the $10 million in damages. Darril Fosty says he and his brother believe the lawsuit is “unwarranted and frivolous” and they will officially respond through their legal team.
It was announced in July 2021 that Drake and LeBron James would executive produce Black Ice, which is described as “highlighting the historical marginalization of black hockey players from the early pioneers of the Colored Hockey League in Maritimes Canada to the National Hockey League of today and its negligible number of black players.” The documentary is set to premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday (September 10).