'Most Interesting Man in the World' Throws Down Legal Gauntlet

The actor dubbed “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in the Dos Equis commercial is countersuing the man who called him “The Least Honorable Man in the Entertainment Business” in a lawsuit alleging that the beer ad star owes him and his company commissions.

Jonathan Goldsmith filed the countersuit Feb. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court against Butch Klein and Gold Levin Talent. The suit alleges Klein wrongfully disclosed the terms of a 2012 Dos Equis-Goldsmith contract and “had no role in connection with securing or managing” Goldsmith’s deals with the beer company.

The countersuit describes Klein, also known as Tim Jordan, as a “failed ‘C-list’ actor who appears in ‘D’ movies”’ and who is now a “failed personal manager.”

An attorney for Klein and Gold Levin could not be immediately reached.

Gold Levin Talent started the litigation by suing Goldsmith Oct. 2, claiming that the defendant was relatively unknown until the beer ad turned out to be “the role of a lifetime” for him.

The suit maintains Gold Levin is entitled to 10 percent of the nearly $2 million Goldsmith will earn in 2015-16.

Goldsmith hired Gold Levin in 2002 to manage his career in the entertainment industry in exchange for his agreement to pay a percentage of his earnings from his television, film and other entertainment industry engagements, according to the lawsuit.

The Gold Levin suit states that Goldsmith paid commissions to Gold Levin from 2006-09, but stopped doing so last November, contending that the plaintiffs “had earned enough”

“Apparently Goldsmith’s preference for Dos Equis intoxicated him into believing that he could ignore his promises and obligations,” the suit states. “As it now turns out, had Goldsmith landed a role that more accurately portrayed his true character, he would have landed the role of ‘The Least Honorable Man in the Entertainment Business.”

But according to the countersuit, Goldsmith and his wife, Barbara Buky, obtained the Dos Equis contract in 2006. Buky joined Gold Levin two years earlier and “effectively managed the business,” the countersuit states. She was Goldsmith’s manager before she married him, according to the countersuit.

“Barbara found the opportunity, cultivated it, brought it in, negotiated the terms and managed the business relationship,” the countersuit states. “Jonathan secured the deal through his demonstrated talent.”

The combined efforts of Goldsmith and Buky has generated millions of dollars in revenue for Dos Equis and Gold Levin received a cut of Goldsmith’s earnings even though Klein and his company had nothing to do with “Jonathan’s breakout role,” the countersuit states.

Goldsmith and Buky moved to Vermont on February 2010, the countersuit states. Buky asked Klein to work on the Dos Equis ad campaign and her husband continued to pay Gold Levin a commission even though he was not providing any management services to Goldsmith, according to the countersuit.

Goldsmith negotiated a new Dos Equis deal that was executed in January 2012 that included a provision that its terms not be made public, the countersuit states. However, Klein and Gold Levin later revealed the terms and now Goldsmith’s future as the Dos Equis spokesman is jeopardized, the countersuit alleges.

--City News Service, photo courtesy of Dos Equis