Showtime sued over George & Tammy TV series by the estate of Tammy Wynette
A still from George & Tammy
Showtime has been sued by the estate of country star Tammy Wynette’s fifth husband, George Richey over his portrayal in the miniseries George & Tammy. Richey’s heirs claim that the miniseries has projected him as the “villain” of the love story between Wynette and George Jones. This they claim is in clear violation of a previously signed non-disparagement agreement with Georgette Jones, the daughter of the said couple who also happens to play a key part in the miniseries.
In response to the lawsuit, a Showtime spokesperson told Variety, “We see no plausible basis for any claim against Showtime.”
The suit was filed in Delaware court on behalf of Sheila Slaughter Richey, the executor of her late husband’s estate. She married George Richey in 2001, three years after the death of his previous wife, Wynette. George Richey died in 2010.
What is the lawsuit about?
The lawsuit claims that the miniseries George & Tammydefames the late Richey in multiple ways. It claims that it depicts Richey “as a devious husband who abused Wynette and Richey’s prior wife, facilitated and encouraged Wynette’s addiction to prescription painkillers, and engaged in financial and managerial manipulation of Wynette.”
It also objects to how they have shown Richey as someone who got Wynette addicted to prescription painkillers “to create a dependency,” including injecting her with Demerol on their wedding day.
This issue dates back to 2015 when a civil litigation between Georgette Jones and the Richey estate took place. This was when Richey’s third wife and daughter asked for redress as a result of Jones’ 2011 book, The Three of Us: Growing Up with Tammy and George. When that dispute was settled in 2019, the attorneys say, Jones agreed not to make disparaging remarks against George Richey or his family members.
They point to interviews Jones did promoting the miniseries in which, asked about Richie’s possible complicity in things going badly in her mother’s life, she would beg off answering the questions, saying things like, “We all had to sign an agreement, all of us together, to say that we will not discuss each other any further, so for my own sake, legally, I’m not allowed to really discuss anything about Richey or his wife after Mom, Sheila.”
The lawsuit now wants Paramount and Showtime to withdraw George & Tammyfrom any form of distribution, and to be held responsible for restitution in an amount to be determined in a trial.
