Wayans brothers joke theft case moves to L.A.

By Matthew Belloni

A lawsuit claiming that the Wayans brothers stole jokes from a former assistant and published them in a book called "101 Ways to Know You're a Golddigger" has been transferred from New York to Los Angeles. 

Jared Edwards filed suit in December against Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans and St. Martin's Press, alleging that he worked for the comedy family for a decade and wrote jokes about women who prey upon wealthy men. He says he wanted to collaborate with them on a book called "You Know You're a Golddigger When...," but the brothers rejected the idea, then allegedly did their own version.

The case was originally filed in New York but has now been moved to Los Angeles and taken over by U.S. District Judge Manuel Real. The Wayanses made the request, which the court  granted without even allowing Edwards to file an opposition.

"This lawsuit lacks any merit, and we will fight it vigorously," Wayans attorney Bryan Freedman tells us. 

Just for fun (please don't sue us, Jared), here are a few of Edwards' "Golddigger" jokes, a list of which is attached to the complaint:

You know you're a golddigger when...

• You know more about sports players' stats than an ESPN analyst
• Your lifelong ambition is to be one of Hugh Hefner's wives 
• You divorce your celebrity husband but keep his last name to get into clubs 
• You have floor seats at the Laker game but you work at Forever 21 
• You've accepted an indecent proposal 
• You go to the NBA draft to look for new talent 
• You can't read but you subscribe to Forbes 
• Your nickname is Cha-Ching 

  OK, we'll stop now.