T.I., MTV, and Funeral Home Sued For Showing Dead Body in Reality TV Show
The King of the South faces legal action for allegedly causing mental pain and suffering and emotional distress.
The relatives of a dead man whose body was filmed in Atlanta as part of “T.I.’s Road To Redemption” MTV reality show are suing the rapper, MTV, and an Atlanta funeral home.
The suit, filed by the family of Joseph Williams, alleges that his relatives suffered mental distress after footage of his body was shown in a February 2009 episode of the show, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The suit alleges that the Haugabrooks Funeral Home was paid to cremate the body. On the show, T.I. showed a young man a corpse at the funeral home to scare him into avoiding lives of crime.
A mortician said that the man was a “hustler” and that the man’s parents don’t know how he died.
The lawsuit accuses T.I., the funeral home, MTV and others involved in the making of the video of “carelessly mishandl[ing]” the body “for financial gain and publicity.”
The family is seeking unspecified damages for mental pain and suffering and emotional distress.
