A person is suing Netflix for greater than $1 million after it used his photograph in an unrelated true-crime documentary whereas asking: 'Is that this a guardian angel or a stone-cold killer?'

• A Kentucky man is suing Netflix over using his picture in a true-crime documentary, per stories.
• An image of Taylor Hazlewood was utilized in a homicide story he had no reference to, a lawsuit claims.
• “The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” tells the story of viral star-turned-killer Kai McGillvary.

A Kentucky man is suing Netflix after it allegedly used his photograph with out permission in a true-crime documentary a couple of convicted assassin, in accordance with a number of stories.

Taylor Hazlewood is searching for greater than $1 million in damages, saying the documentary “The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” portrays him in a “sinister and defamatory gentle,” the Dallas Morning Information reported.

Throughout one scene, Hazlewood’s picture is onscreen as a voiceover asks: “Is that this a guardian angel or a stone-cold killer?” the paper reported the criticism as saying.

Regardless of this, his lawyer, Angela Buchanan, instructed Buzzfeed Information that Hazlewood had no relationship to the topic of the documentary.

The documentary focuses on Caleb “Kai” McGillvary, who turned an web superstar in 2013 after he intervened in an assault, however he was later convicted of homicide. 

McGillvary gained viral video stardom as a hitchhiker who used his hatchet to subdue Jett McBride, a person who gave him a journey earlier than attacking a utility employee. Chatting with native media afterwards, McGillvary delivered an endearing homily about love and respect earlier than saying “smash, smash, smash!” to explain how he used his hatchet to intervene within the assault. 

However three months later he was needed for the killing of New Jersey lawyer Joseph Galfy. Regardless of pleading self-defense, McGillvary was convicted of first-degree homicide in 2019, as The Washington Submit reported.

The documentary seems at McGillvary’s path from video star to convict, utilizing a number of screenshots from social media as an example — one among which, per the lawsuit, is definitely from Hazlewood’s Instagram account. 

Hazlewood was first alerted to using the picture, which exhibits him holding a hatchet, when mates started contacting him after the Netflix documentary aired.

“Wtf? Clarify please,” one buddy messaged him, per the Dallas Morning Information, citing the criticism. 

“Are you kidding? Did you not know you had been going be in it?” requested one other, the paper reported.

Hazlewood says he was posing within the photograph with a buddy’s hatchet as a result of he was reminded of his favourite childhood guide, “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen, the Submit reported.

Netflix didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark, despatched exterior of working hours.

McGillvary can also be suing Netflix, alleging that the corporate is amongst a number of which are “ruthlessly exploiting a hero’s life story for cash,” in accordance with the Fresno Bee.