A crew member on Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt is suing the band and Netflix, claiming improper safety procedures resulted in the severe electrical burns that cost him his foot.
A crew member on Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt is suing both Netflix and the band, claiming that severe electrical burns he sustained on the set put him in the hospital for seven weeks and cost him his right foot.
The New Orleans Advocate reports that Louis DiVincenti, a rigging grip on the Netflix production, claims that while shooting on set at a New Orleans restaurant, he was electrocuted when a metal pipe he was passing came in contact with an electrical line. He claims that the electrical current “arced through his body and blew out his right foot.” The electrocution left Louis with third-degree burns over 50% of his body.
Afterwards, Louis was sent to New Orleans’ University Medical Center, where he was given a two percent chance of survival. He then spent seven weeks in the hospital, where he survived several skin grafts and surgeries. However, his right foot was eventually amputated.
Now, Louis is suing both Netflix and the band (who were producers of the film), claiming that they violated health and safety procedures on set. The suit said that it was the production’s job to make sure the power lines were de-energized before work was being done around them.
“Netflix and the producers of the movie The Dirt, including band members Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx, are liable for the production’s failure to address electrical hazards near the Munch Factory restaurant in the Lower Garden District,” states the lawsuit.
Louis is seeking damages, which in total amount to around $1.8 million. Netflix and Mötley Crüe have yet to respond to the allegations.
In a recent interview in which he was asked if The Dirt made Mötley Crüe look callous and unlikeable, Nikki Sixx said, "It was the lifestyle -- it was sex and drugs and musicianship and songwriting. It was a different time. We left to go on tour with Ozzy [Osbourne, in the U.S. in 1984] and we really never came home. And when we did come home we were in the studio. We did a cover of a Brownsville Station song [Smokin’ In The Boys Room] and Home Sweet Home, which were all over MTV, then we were out playing in arenas, and sometimes in stadiums. So people ask us about the Sunset Strip scene, and the truth is that we really didn’t know what was happening because we were kind of gone. I don’t mean any offence to the bands who were there, but to me they just seemed very samey. They gave raw, dirty rock’n’roll a bad name. And we didn’t want to be a part of that."
