Since 2005, the intellectual property of the Ramones was owned 50-50 between Joey Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh (born Mitchel Hyman) and Johnny Ramone’s wife Linda Cummings-Ramone. The last few years have been marred by a lot of infighting between the two, both in and out of court; one such point of contention came in August 2024, when Leigh sued Cummings-Ramone for "exploiting" the Ramones' legacy due to being "unabashedly obsessed with portraying herself as the widow of Johnny Ramone." Now, Cummings-Ramone is free to do whatever she wants with the Ramones' legacy, because she's bought Leigh out of the estate, known as Ramones Productions, Inc.
“Ms. Ramone now has total control over RPI,” reads the court filing first obtained by Billboard. "Mr. Mitchel Hyman, who was previously the other 50 percent owner of RPI, transferred his share to Ms. Ramone per a binding term sheet agreement of November 18, 2025. Ms. Ramone owns 100 percent of the shares of RPI and has free rein to fully control RPI.”
The filing comes from the attorney of music manager Dave Frey, a music manager who Leigh had appointed to the estate's board. Cummings-Ramone started trying to get Frey off the board in 2023, after suing Netflix for a Pete Davidson-starring Ramones biopic that has since been put on hold. (It doesn't seem like she was opposed to the biopic itself, just that she hadn't been asked for permission first.) An arbitrator found that Frey violated the shareholder agreement by developing the biopic without Cummings-Ramone's involvement, and he was removed from the estate's board in 2024, though he's continued litigating against Cummings-Ramone.
This month also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Ramones' debut single "Blitzkreig Bop." Still enough time for Netflix to drop a biopic announcement. In the meantime, Sleater-Kinney and Fred Armisen recently unveiled their Ramones cover band.
