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A Kentucky man is suing Netflix after the streaming service reportedly used his likeness in a recent true-crime documentary.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported that Kentucky respiratory therapist Taylor Hazlewood filed a lawsuit against Netflix in Texas last week, accusing the streaming giant of defamation and "misappropriating his likeness" by using his photo in The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, which was released on Jan. 10.
Hazlewood is seeking at least $1 million in damages, the outlet reported.
Representatives for Netflix did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment regarding the lawsuit Monday.
The documentary follows Canadian hitchhiker Kai Lawrence (née Caleb Lawrence McGillvary), who briefly became famous in 2013 after a viral interview with news station KMPH and was subsequently convicted of murder in 2019.
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Hazlewood is altogether unrelated to the situation, save for a photo he shared to Instagram in June 2019 of himself holding a hatchet.
According to the Post, he posed for a photo with a friend's hatchet after seeing it and making a connection to the Gary Paulsen novel Hatchet.
The photo sat on Instagram largely unnoticed until it appeared in the Netflix documentary, and upon the film's release, Hazlewood began receiving significant messages from friends, family and acquaintances regarding his appearance in the film, the outlet reported.
"Hazlewood is, of course, beyond angry that Netflix would implicate and connect him to such a salacious and infamous story and individual," an excerpt from the lawsuit states, according to the Post.
Lawrence, the subject of the documentary, was sentenced to 57 years in prison and remains imprisoned in New Jersey for killing Joseph Galfy after Lawrence traveled to New York in the wake of his viral fame.
He is also suing Netflix over the documentary, claiming that the company is "ruthlessly exploiting a hero's life story for money," according to The Fresno Bee.
Hazlewood's image appears in The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker as a narrator talks about a "stone-cold killer," according to the Post. Text that reads "You can never trust anyone," appears next to Hazlewood's image, the outlet reported.
"That's going to go on for the rest of his life," Hazlewood's attorney, Angela Buchanan, told the Post on Monday, adding that the Kentucky resident hopes to vindicate himself to those who have asked him about his inclusion in the documentary and those who may recognize his image but have not felt comfortable enough to inquire about it.
"That's going to go on for the rest of his life," Buchanan added.
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April 18, 2023 at 02:40AM
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Kentucky Man Sues Netflix After His Photo Was Used in 'The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker' Documentary - PEOPLE
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