Trouble on the ranch.
Yellowstone star Cole Hauser is facing a lawsuit from a former business partner over a deal for a spice rub line gone wrong – and it all centers around his most famous character, Rip Wheeler.
The lawsuit was filed in Tennessee by Xtreme Concepts, Inc., a company based in Birmingham, Alabama. According to the complaint, Hauser and Xtreme Concepts first began discussing a partnership in 2022, and later agreed to form a new company together – creatively called “NewCo” – to launch new products, including the ill-fated line of spices.
The two sides signed an influencer marketing agreement to pay Hauser to promote the company’s products, and according to the complaint, Hauser pitched a line of seasoning called “Rip’s Rub” based on his character from Yellowstone.
Based on their agreement, and at Hauser’s recommendation, Xtreme claims that they began taking part in promotion for the product, including NFL tailgates, as well as hiring staff to promote Rip’s Rub.
The plan was for Hauser to promote the spice rubs at an event called Bourbon and Bonfire in Montana, an event that’s organized by Hauser himself. But before that could happen, the plaintiffs say they learned that Hauser didn’t have permission from Paramount to use the name, image and likeness of his Yellowstone character.
The company alleges that when they asked Hauser about this major problem, the actor basically said that director Taylor Sheridan owed him $1.2 million and to use it anyway without permission:
Hauser “represented that Plaintiffs had the right to grant a license to Defendants and NewCo to use “Rip’s Rub” and encouraged Xtreme and Landon to go forward using the name, image, and likeness of “Rip” without permission from Paramount. Defendants refused to proceed without a valid license.
Well obviously they didn’t want to do that, and it sounds like things fell apart from there, with the company alleging that Hauser hasn’t performed any of his obligations under the contract despite being paid $250,000.
Naturally though, Hauser’s side of the story is much different.
In his answer to the complaint, the actor and his company have a different side of the story, and claim that HE is actually the one who’s owed money.
Hauser says that under the agreement, he was owed a $1.5 million guaranteed fee to promote NewCo’s products, and that the contract explicitly stated that the Rip Wheeler character could not be used:
“For avoidance of doubt, there shall be no use by XTREME of images of INFLUENCER in character as “Rip” from “Yellowstone”.”
The actor says that he even paid out of his own pocket to film footage for a commercial to be used for their spice rubs, but after that nothing else happened and he was essentially ghosted by Xtreme:
“Despite it being its express obligations under the Agreement, Defendants are informed and believe that Xtreme did not take any action to form NewCo, finance NewCo, market or distribute products for NewCo, or contribute five of Xtreme’s existing spices to NewCo.”
He says that he and his representatives repeated attempted to try to find a way to mutually resolve the dispute and end the influencer agreement in exchange for Hauser keeping the $250k that had already been paid and doing a social media post for Xtreme. But the company instead demanded that the actor return the money and pay additionally damages, and no resolution was ultimately able to be reached.
For their part, Xtreme responded to Hauser’s filing by insisting that the actor repeatedly told them that he had the rights to use the Rip Wheeler character, despite the language in the agreement:
“Hauser and his representatives affirmatively represented that [Hauser] had the right to grant a license to [Xtreme] and NewCo to use “Rip’s Rub” and encouraged Xtreme … to go forward using the name, image, and likeness of “Rip” without permission from Paramount. Defendants refused to proceed without a valid license.”
Now, I’m not sure how familiar you are with trademark law, but it would be VERY unlikely that an actor would have the ability to give permission for his character to be used in marketing. The contract also explicitly stated that the Rip Wheeler character couldn’t be used, and Hauser telling them differently wouldn’t seem to make a big difference unless he could actually secure the rights to the character (which he apparently couldn’t), but as far as what was discussed behind the scenes we’ll have to wait and see because right now we only have two opposing sides of the story.
The case is set for trial on June 29, 2027, so we’re still a ways away from a resolution. We’ll no doubt find out more information as the case proceeds, and we’ll keep you updated if anything happens between now and then.
