Malaysian king of comedy Harith Iskander has revealed on his social media that he is suing American comedy club chain The Laugh Factory, the organiser of World’s Funniest Person competition which Harith won in 2016.
The 52-year-old comedian shared an article by The Hollywood Reporter which was published back in December, revealing the organiser’s failure to pay him US$100,000, and a U.S. comedy tour as promised.
More than 2 years has passed since the competition, and until now, the comedian has only received US$30,000. Thus, he had no choice but to take legal action against The Laugh Factory and its founder Jamie Masada.
“It has been a roller coaster ride since I entered (and won) the competition in Dec 2016. My main intention for participating was to put Malaysia on the world map of comedy and I was thrilled to have done so in a small way. It may have looked simple but a lot of time, effort, work and not to mention expenses went into making this goal come true,” he said.
“I seriously had no intention to have it come to this point but was given little choice by the actions of the organisers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC-0Uqv2fcc
Harith is suing for the organisers promissory fraud, breach of contract, misleading advertising and unfair competition, among other claims.
He is asking for the US$70,000 balance, and the realisation of his promised U.S. comedy tour, or its cash equivalent. He also wants a refund of his costs of participating in the contest, which included travel, immigration fees and loss of earnings.
