'This Is Spinal Tap' Actor Harry Shearer Sues Media Group for $125 Million Over Profits

Harry Shearer took to his website to explain the suit.

ByABC News
October 18, 2016, 3:43 PM

— -- One of the stars of "This Is Spinal Tap" has sued French media company Vivendi for alleged fraud in connection to profits from the iconic film, claiming he has earned only $81 on 22 years’ worth of merchandising income.

Harry Shearer, known for his voice work on shows like "The Simpsons," starred as bassist Derek Smalls in the 1984 fictional “mockumentary” and seeks at least $125 million from the media company in compensatory and punitive damages, according to the court documents obtained by ABC News.

Vivendi, which bought the rights to the film, declined to comment on the suit, which Shearer filed in Los Angeles.

Harry Shearer shown January 24, 2015. Shearer filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2016, against the French studio Vivendi S.A. over profits from the 1984 hit ?This Is Spinal Tap? and its merchandise and music.
Paul A. Hebert/Invision/AP Photo

On his website, Fairness Rocks, Shearer, 72, posted statements and a video detailing his claims. He's suing through his company, Century of Progress Productions.

"The lawsuit alleges the French conglomerate, Vivendi S.A., engaged in anti-competitive and unfair business practices, as well as fraudulent accounting, directly related to its management of the cult-classic film, This Is Spinal Tap," a news release on his site reads.

The site also includes an alleged timeline of events and Shearer, in the clip he posted, says, "You may not know that the band existed before the movie," adding his fellow co-stars created the group and some of the band's famed songs, a reference to the Spinal Tap parody band that predated the film.

"'Tap's' a movie I'm very proud to have had a part in creating. A lot of people seem to love it," he continues. "And it seems to have made a considerable amount of money from film and music distribution for some corporations ... but not for its creators. For example, I've learned that between 1984 and 2006, Canal – a French subsidiary of Vivendi – reports that our share of all merchandise income worldwide from 'This Is Spinal' Tap was $81 ... $81 for 22 years. Between 1989 and 2006, the corporations said that total income from music sales [for the soundtrack] was $98."

Shearer is a successful character actor whose work includes voicing Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and others on "The Simpsons."