Jun 19, 2007, 13:00 GMT
Mötley Crüe are suing their manager over claims he made frontman Tommy Lee look "lazy and incompetent".
04/21/2007 - Tommy Lee - Las Vegas, NV © Terry Thompson / Photorazzi
The band say manager Carl Stubner tarnished their image by advising the rocker to appear in reality TV shows 'Tommy Lee Goes to College' and 'Rock Star: Supernova'.
They claim the "inane overtones" on 'Tommy Lee Goes to College' made him look "incoherent, lazy and incompetent".
According to court documents, the programme portrayed Tommy disrupting classes, arriving late for classes and allegedly flirting with his young tutor.
The band feel the show damaged the reputation Tommy had earned "through years of great effort and hard work with Mötley Crüe".
It has also been alleged Tommy's participation in the shows interfered with the band's 2005 tour and plans to record a new studio album, resulting in their annual revenue dropping to $19million in 2006.
The band say Stubner and his company, Sanctuary Management Group, concentrated on Tommy's less-successful side projects and ignored the group's commitments.
In the lawsuit, Mötley Crüe say: "Stubner's motivation was greed. He has brazenly said as much. Stubner stated that he received significantly higher commissions on Tommy Lee's solo projects because he did not have to share his take with the other managers."
"He claimed that it was a 'no brainer' to prefer and promote Tommy's projects over those of Mötley Crüe."
The rockers are asking for more than $20 million in damages for breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud.
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