This is why we can’t have nice things. The AV Club is reporting that creator of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and Sprudge’s new bff Jerry Seinfeld is being sued for allegedly stealing the idea for Comedians.
As the AV Club notes, “It’s hardly the kind of premise you imagine requiring much workshopping, but a new lawsuit questions its origins.” Producer Christian Charles states he brought the idea to Seinfeld all the way back in 2002, which the suit claims Seinfeld was very interested in, going so far as to even shoot a pilot, as per AV Club. Charles “alleges Seinfeld didn’t want to share ownership of the show, and went off and made it without him.” In the suit, he is requesting a “created by” credit and financial compensation.
In a response, Seinfeld’s lawyers tell TMZ, “[t]his lawsuit is delusional. Jerry independently created Comedians In Cars and Mr. Charles only concocted this claim after the show became a commercial success. We are confident that this shakedown lawsuit will go nowhere.”
The timeline is a bit interesting. If what Charles is saying is true, he brought the show to Seinfeld in 2002. Then, as the AV Club notes, he directed an episode of the show in 2012. And there was no sign of a lawsuit until 2018, after Seinfeld sits down for an interview with Sprudge. Are we to understand that our interview skyrocketed the Seinfeld co-creator’s popularity so much that now, at long last, his new show would be worth suing over? Or is it all, you know, a big coincidence?
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.