The Cayuga nation, a Native American tribe in New York, sued Showtime and the creators of Billions for allegedly telling a “false and defamatory narrative” of the tribe and one of its council members in an episode of the show’s fourth season. According to Bloomberg, the nation and Council Member Clint Halftown claim the show’s use of the “Cayuga” name—along with naming one of the characters “Jane Halftown”—falsely suggested they had “previously been engaged in a casino land deal and an illegal revenue-sharing arrangement.” The tribe and Halftown also claim the episode was a “deliberate and intentional resort to an offensive stereotype of Native Americans as irresponsible, corruptible, and even criminal,” and they seek unspecified damages. In the May 5 episode, one of Billions’ main characters discusses a corrupt land deal with the “Jane Halftown” character and another recurring character refers to the Cayuga nation as his “casino Indians.”
