US toymaker GoldieBlox, who were previously reported as being besieged by legendary hip-hop group Beastie Boys‘ legal team, before the band revealed that they were the ones being threatened with a suit, have written a letter to the rap crew saying they are “ready to stop the lawsuit.”
“We don’t want to fight with you. We love you and we are actually huge fans,” opens GoldieBlox owner Debbie Sterling in a contrite letter posted to GoldieBlox’s official blog. “As a small company, we had no choice but to stand up for ourselves,” she later adds.
A row erupted between the two after Sterling’s company used a parody of the Beasties’ 1986 cut Girls from the band’s debut album, in an advertisement for her company, that subsequently went viral. After the Beasties caught wind of the clip, they had their legal team reach out to GoldieBlox.
“When we made our parody version of your song…we did it with the best of intentions. We wanted to transform it into a powerful anthem for girls,” writes Sterling. “We were completely unaware that the late, great Adam Yauch had requested…the Beastie Boys songs never be used in advertising.”
Described by the other two members as the moral and creative core of the band, the late Yauch left a mandate in his will that read: “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”
“Although we believe our parody video falls under fair use,” writes Sterling, “we would like to respect his wishes and yours. Since actions speak louder than words, we have already removed the song from our video.” In their suit, GoldieBlox described the song as sexist and detrimental to girls.
“We are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team. We don’t want to spend our time fighting legal battles. We want to inspire the next generation. We want to be good role models. And we want to be your friends,” concludes Sterling.
Readers can view the letter in its entirety, below.
GoldieBlox Letter To Beastie Boys
Dear Adam and Mike,
We don’t want to fight with you. We love you and we are actually huge fans.
When we made our parody version of your song, ‘Girls’, we did it with the best of intentions. We wanted to transform it into a powerful anthem for girls. Over the past week, parents have sent us pictures and videos of their kids singing with pride, building their own Rube Goldberg machines in their living rooms and declaring an interest in engineering. It’s been incredible to watch.
Our hearts sank last week when your lawyers called us with threats that we took very seriously. As a small company, we had no choice but to stand up for ourselves. We did so sincerely hoping we could come to a peaceful settlement with you.
We want you to know that when we posted the video, we were completely unaware that the late, great Adam Yauch had requested in his will that the Beastie Boys songs never be used in advertising. Although we believe our parody video falls under fair use, we would like to respect his wishes and yours.
Since actions speak louder than words, we have already removed the song from our video. In addition, we are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team.
We don’t want to spend our time fighting legal battles. We want to inspire the next generation. We want to be good role models. And we want to be your friends.
Sincerely,
Debbie + Team GoldieBlox
