'Empire' creator Lee Daniels and star Terrence Howard have been sued by a self-described "known ghetto player" for allegedly stealing the idea for the hit show.
Ron Newt, who seeks 1 billion dollars in damages in the lawsuit, claims that the Fox show is a replica of his film about his life as a gangster, pimp and drug dealer, TMZ.com reported.
Newt said that he met with Howard at the Four Seasons hotel a while back and they discussed his documentary 'Bigger than Big,' after which the 46-year-old actor connected to it and said he wanted to play him in the film.
Newt listed the similarities that are more than suspicious: In 'Empire' 4 drug dealers were killed like in the 'Bigger than Big' script. Then in 'Empire,' Lucious shot his long-time friend and in 'BTB' Prince shoots his friend.
In the 'Empire,' which has a round table like in 'BTB,' Cookie with hat goes to jail for drugs and is released from prison and in 'BTB,' China Doll with hat goes to jail for drugs and is released from the big house.
Newt, who has a colorful history, says that in 1989 he signed a multi-million dollar deal with Michael Jackson and Death Row Records.