Richard Simmons does not endorse Pauly Shore playing him in new biopic: ‘Don’t believe everything you read’

“Like yourself. Your weight doesn’t matter. If you like yourself, you’re gonna be fine.”

Those are the first words uttered by Pauly Shore as fitness icon Richard Simmons in the teaser trailer for the new upcoming biopic “The Court Jester.”

But unfortunately Simmons himself is not fine with the upcoming project or with the “Encino Man” taking the helm of the short film that is set to premiere during the Sundance Film Festival later this month or an unrelated biopic in development from The Wolper Organization, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

“Richard and I are not endorsing this project,” Simmons’ rep told ET in a statement on Wednesday. “It is unauthorized. I spoke to Pauly last year and told him [Richard] is not ready to tell his story.”

Shore is a dead ringer for Simmons in the new photos and trailer released for “The Court Jester,” sporting his iconic curly red hair, uber short shorts and a sparkly blue tank top.

“I’m really excited about sharing Richard Simmons’ life with the world,” Short said in a statement. “We all need this biopic now more than ever. Simmons represented mental health, getting people in shape and being his authentic silly self! Whenever he was on TV you could never take your eyes off of him and he brought such a joy to his appearances that represented nothing but a good time.”

Less than 12 hours after the images were released, Simmons made a rare statement and seemingly distanced himself from the project.

“Hi Everybody! You may have heard they may be doing a movie about me with Pauly Shore,” a post to Simmons’ verified Facebook account on Wednesday read. “I have never given my permission for this movie.  So don’t believe everything you read. I no longer have a manager, and I no longer have a publicist. I just try to live a quiet life and be peaceful. Thank you for all your love and support. Richard.”

“The Court Jester” which also stars Tamra Brown as Ellen Degeneres, is produced by Alen Stubbs and Ehron Asher, with Michael Ostroff and Mark Waldman exec producing has gotten the support of Wolper Organization head Mark Wolper, although the projects are unrelated.

“There is an amazing, dramatic and uplifting story to tell about Richard Simmons,” Wolper said in a statement in part. “We have been dancing around the idea for years, but it never coalesced until several months ago when I saw the press about Pauly Shore being touted by social media as the ONLY person that could play Richard.”

“I saw the picture of them and realized these two are very similar, they both lived or died by how the world perceived them, they both fought to give their fans what they wanted and they both deserve an amazing comeback story!” he continued. “My company has locked Pauly down to play Richard Simmons and we are in serious discussions with a major writer to develop this as a dramatic and heartfelt feature in the tone of Little Miss Sunshine.”

The Court Jester is set to premiere during the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 19.