‘All Eyez On Me’: Tupac Shakur Biopic Angers More Of His Celeb Friends

All Eyez On Me, the life story of rapper Tupac Shakur who was murdered in 1996, continues to receive criticisms from some of his celebrity friends. The film was released last week, and many are pointing out the flaws in its authenticity. A music journalist even filed a lawsuit on claims of copyright infringement.

Vibe writer Kevin Powell on Friday filed a lawsuit against the creators of All Eyez On Me. Morgan Creek, Lionsgate, and the producers and writers of the movie allegedly used Powell’s series of interviews with Shakur for Vibe magazine in the 1990s in significant parts of the film.

The court papers filed in a district court in New York stated that Powell created a made-up character in his articles about Shakur after he was imprisoned for sexual assault. He said he had to rework the narratives to protect the rapper. The character named Nigel, an embellishment of a real-life person Haitian Jack, appeared in All Eyez On Me, as reported by Los Angeles Times.

Powell wants All Eyez On Me to be pulled out and demands a share of the film’s profit, to be determined by a jury. The biopic has so far earned around $34.7 million.

Jada Pinkett Smith, Tupac’s childhood friend, was also disappointed with how her relationship with the artist was portrayed in All Eyez On Me. She posted a series of tweets to correct some of the details shown in the movie, including the poem Tupac wrote for her but she had no knowledge about until it was printed in his book. She also said that Pac never said goodbye to her before he left abruptly for Los Angeles, and she had never been to any of her friend’s shows.

“Forgive me… my relationship to Pac is too precious to me for the scenes in All Eyez On Me to stand as truth.”

Kat Graham, who portrayed Jada on All Eyez On Me, said she reached out to the actress when she first got the role “to ensure the integrity of the story and the character.” She added, “I even spoke to her last week and she had nothing but support,” according to Vibe.

50 Cent, who was featured on Tupac’s posthumous album Tupac: Resurrection in 2003, posted on Instagram that the film is “trash.”

Director John Singleton said in an interview he is “really upset” with how All Eyez On Me turned out. “They just made a movie. They didn’t think of it as a cultural event,” he said, per USA TODAY. Singleton helped develop All Eyez On Me before he quit in 2015 due to creative differences with the studio. He directed Shakur in 1993’s urban romantic drama Poetic Justice.

All Eyez On Me stars Demetrius Shipp Jr. as the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

[Featured Image by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Madame Tussauds Hollywood]