Game of Thrones vet Emilia Clarke recently sparked fandom fervor with the colossal rumor that she might be joining the MCU on the TV side, but now the actress is making headlines for a completely different reason. It appears that Clarke has dropped a lawsuit on a magazine that she'd previously worked with for a photo shoot, with the images captured that day being the catalyst for why she's suing.
Here's the backstory, according to court documents (via The Blast): back in March 2019, Emilia Clarke reportedly took part in a photo session with Flaunt Magazine that was geared towards being used in the June 2019 issue. The court filing states that Clarke had an agreement with the publication that allowed for the photos to be for that particular issue, and also for a pre-approved marketing event in Shanghai, with no other allowances made to be part of the deal. Clarke claims there was abundant clarification on that matter, with Flaunt being overtly aware that the actress would have to specifically provide written permission for any other use.
However, the lawsuit states that Flaunt thereafter worked with the Chinese cosmetics company Perfect Diary and allegedly made the company believe they also had the rights to use the images taken during Emilia Clarke's photo shoot, as well as the use of Clarke's voice, name and likeness, in order to promote Perfect Diary products, as well as the brand name in general. This was obviously the exact opposite of what Clarke called for, and there's an additional twist to the allegations as well.
It's reported that ahead of being named the first global ambassador for the world-renowned cosmetics company Clinique, Emilia Clarke was allegedly offered a lucrative $700,000 deal to work directly with China's Perfect Diary. However, she apparently turned that deal down, for understandable reasons, and the actress claims that by allegedly working with the beauty company, Flaunt created a disingenuous connection between Clarke and Perfect Diary, which is what she tried to avoid previously.
To that end, Emilia Clarke also claims that she lost out on work because of that falsified affiliation with Perfect Diary. According to the lawsuit, several different cosmetic companies that would have potentially worked with Clarke were turned off by what looked like her agreeing to work with rival corporations. One of those companies was reportedly setting up million-dollar negotiations with Clarke, only for it to fall through, shining a light on just how important branding and brand loyalty is among Hollywood's elite.
All in all, the actress is claiming damages of over $5 million, which would include the supposed damage done to her name, likeness and goodwill, as well as any money that Flaunt would have theoretically paid Emilia Clarke if they had legitimately and legally licensed her photos, name, etc. She claims that she and her team repeatedly sent Flaunt cease and desists to end the exploitation, and alleges the magazine clearly ignored such demands.
Below is the original Flaunt magazine cover featuring the images taken during the photo shoot in question.
Considering Emilia Clarke's history with her imagery being shared all across the internet and beyond, thanks to her various nude scenes on Game of Thrones, the actress is clearly a bit more protective of where and how her likeness is used outside of the world of television. She's long been averse to taking selfies with fans, also. At this time, it's unclear how Flaunt will proceed in court.
As fans wait to see whether or not Emilia Clarke will join the MCU as part of Disney+'s Secret Invasion series with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn - or in some other capacity, I suppose - we can also get pumped for Clarke's upcoming superhero comic book series that she created. Though if she wanted to come out and address some fans' wishes for her to replace Amber Heard in Aquaman 2, that works also.
