GoldieBlox End Beastie Boys Lawsuit

"We don't want to fight with you..."

Toy company have decided to end their lawsuit with Beastie Boys.

Beastie Boys will not be sold. MCA specified as much in his will, refusing to allow his recorded work be used for commercial gain. It's an issue which raised its head recently, when Californian company GoldieBlox produced a new advert.

Billing themselves as ethical toy manufacturers, the organisation has developed a reputation for producing snappy clips which parody famous songs. Inverted the playful misogony of Beastie Boys' 'Girls' into something which reflected rather more modern, equal opportunities driven ideals, the clip became a viral hit.

Beastie Boys responded with a classy open letter, praising the firm's beliefs but reminding them that commercial gain – no matter how well intended – is commercial gain.

In response, GoldieBlox have posted an open letter of their own, specifcying that they meant no harm but will now remove the clip online.

With everybody's point now proven, Clash should perhaps sign off with that GoldieBlox letter in its entirety:

– – –

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 take a song we weren’t too proud of, and transform it into a powerful anthem for girls. Over the past week, parents have sent us pictures and videos of their kids singing the new lyrics 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

– – –

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