Johnny Bananas Tells Entourage: Stop Using My Name!
Credit: From left: HBO; Michael Bezjian/WireImage.com
B-a-n-a-n-a-s!
MTV's Johnny Bananas has a pone to pick with Entourage! The reality star (real name: Johnny Devenanzio) served a cease and desist letter to HBO on Monday demanding they stop the storyline of the Johnny Drama character playing a fictional cartoon ape on Johnny's Bananas.
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Devenanzio tweeted Monday that Entourage -- particularly "the cartoon ape they seemed to create out of thin air, who just so happens to go by the name Johnny Bananas -- is in no way coincidental."
"Instead [it's] an attempt to capitalize on the name recognition which I'm solely responsible for creating," he added. " I intend to fight vigorously in defense of the years of hard work and dedication I've spent making Johnny Bananas a household name."
So why threaten to sue over the name of a cartoon voiced by a fictional actor? "The purpose of this lawsuit is aimed at the integrity of my brand," he said.
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Devenanzio's lawyer, Stephanie G. Ovadia, told Us Weekly: "Celebrity identities can be used, taken or stolen. With the internet today, identity theft has become so simple. We find it in all realms of society--people who are losing their identity to theft and it is all we have. It is who we are. There is value in your identity whether you are a celebrity or not."
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