Ash Pournouri, who managed the late DJ Avicii for a long time, is suing Avicii’s estate. Pournouri alleges that a Netflix documentary about Avicii makes him look bad and wrongly blames him for many of the problems in Avicii’s life. This has gained significant public attention as reported by Billboard. In his lawsuit, Pournouri alleges that the documentary about Avicii’s rise to fame and mental health struggles twists reality. Allegedly, he says the filmmakers purposely changed facts to make him look like a controlling manager who put too much pressure on Avicii. Allegedly, Pournouri feels this isn’t true and has hurt his reputation in the music business. He alleges that he was actually supportive of Avicii, but the film’s portrayal unfairly harmed both his career and personal image.

The Netflix documentary, released after Avicii’s death in 2018, explores the pressures of being successful in the music industry and Avicii’s personal challenges. Many viewers and critics liked how honestly it showed fame’s dark side. However, allegedly Pournouri feels that the film unfairly paints him as a key villain in Avicii’s life story. He alleges this portrayal has negatively affected his career by making people think he was mainly responsible for causing stress to Avicii, harming both his job opportunities and reputation within the music world.

The Avicii estate supports the documentary’s portrayal, saying it allegedly shows Bergling’s experiences and challenges. However, with a lawsuit in progress, there’s an important discussion about how to balance storytelling with responsibility when dealing with real-life events and people.

Photo Credit: Pamela Lin