TELEVISION
Sofía Vergara and Griselda Blanco’s family reach agreement for Netflix series
Michael Corleone, son of Griselda, withdrew the lawsuit he had filed, with a settlement between the two parties being reached out of court.
This year was poised as the great opportunity, the platform for Sofia Vergara to shine solo and dominate Netflix with a return to the small screen that, in a sense, she has never really left. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened. The Colombian actress portrayed the crime widow, aka the Cocaine Godmother, Griselda Blanco, in a series bearing her name. However, this also marked the beginning of a small legal battle that has now come to an end.
Although the series had Netflix’s legal team as a shield against any attempt at lawsuit, this legal defense system did not prevent the family of the criminal, who was murdered in 2012, from formally expressing their opposition to the production. Griselda’s son, Michael Corleone, decided to file a lawsuit against the series for the use of his mother’s image and identity.
Vergara-Griselda out-of-court settlement
Corleone filed the lawsuit on 17 January in a Miami-Dade court stating that the production relied on “extremely private narratives” related to his family and that the plot drew from his intimate testimonies meant for a book publication, which were taken for the miniseries without authorization, let alone compensation.
However, after several intense weeks, the legal matter seems to have found a point of understanding between both parties. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, which had access to the documents in question, an out-of-court settlement has been reached — the economic figure remains undisclosed — which has ended the dispute, as “the attorney for the family of the late Griselda Blanco dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice”, meaning, legally speaking, “the same claim cannot be brought again before the courts”.
This circumstance, as Griselda’s executive producer, Eric Newman, explained to the aforementioned magazine, has a similar precedent. That of Pablo Escobar’s sons when Narcos was launched.
“We are not making a documentary; we are not writing a book about Griselda. So, we are not going to tell a story that will make everyone happy or that people will say, ‘Oh, that’s exactly what happened’,” he said when Corleone’s lawsuit came to light. Less than a month later, it seems that all parties have been satisfied. And the series, with a stellar Vergara, continues to rack up impressive numbers.