Sony and "Kevin Butler" settle
You may remember that a while back Kevin Butler appeared in a Bridgestone Tire commercial playing Mairo Kart on a Wii. According to Sony, this probably confused you and damaged their image, so Sony filed a lawsuit against Jerry Lambert, the actor who portrays Kevin Butler.
The case has been settled. Bridgestone asserted that the character shown in the commercial wasn't Kevin Butler. In the settlement, however, Lambert agreed that in order to appear in any video game commercial, Sony must determine whether any character he portrays violates Sony's right to Kevin Butler. Sony, by the way, owns the Kevin Butler character, not Lambert.
So good news for Lambert! This story always bothered me. Lambert is a small time actor and Sony is a multinational corporation; you only get stories like this in children's movies. I'm glad they settled for something that amounts to a hard slap on Lambert's wrist. It could have been a whole lot worse for him.
How do you g1s feel about this entire affair? Let us know in the comments!
The original commercial has faded into internet aether, so here's the updated one without Lambert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9WRGjODZDQ
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
luciferwilliams8552
So good news for Lambert! This story always bothered me. Lambert is a small time actor and Sony is a multinational corporation; you only get stories like this in children's movies. I'm glad they settled for something that amounts to a hard slap on Lambert's wrist. It could have been a whole lot worse for him. dissertations.superiorpapers.com scam
JustFab
It wasn't a bad idea, I guess. Let's just give him the chance and we'll see what he can do. - JustFab
MagnumMagnus
I hope they keep him on.
There's something charming about his white bread/white guy over-the-top personality.
darkhyrulelord
Indeed. Sony wouldn't be quite the same without him.
GL7200
It is nothing that any other giant company wouldn't do, and in fact does ALL the time. Good to see that they are at least settling, and not burning bridges. They need Butler making adds again, he was the guy that got me to finally cave and get my PS3.
Mjollnir
Sony is pathetic... hopefully they will enjoy last place in the next gen console war as well (tho wii u came out weak)... especially with that anti-used game BS. thrilled to announce that I bought a used PS2 and 20 games off of ebay for less than $100 two months ago... suck it sony. (just wanted to play kingdom hearts)
LordoftheDerp
Now he can DLC for All-Stars! And Crash!
DO IT DAMMIT!
supermatt64
Look Sony just have more funny kevin Butler commercials and put him in Battle Royale and we'll call it a day.
Backfire
I was afraid Lambert was permanently retired from his Kevin Butler role. The last time I saw him, he was in a crappy McCormick commercial. Thank goodness he's back.
Tom the Iron Man
It just shows the level of insecurity Sony has in their own brand that they had to go to this level.