Rosa Parks suing Outkast

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=638&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20031208/en_nm/court_parks_dc

Maybe I've been living under a rock, but this is the first I've heard of this lawsuit. Frankly, I don't think she has much of a case. There've been lots of songs named after famous people before, right? If she wins, will this be a defeat for artistic freedom and free speech?

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder if she will sue Dr. Hibbert for naming his dog Rosa Barks.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

This was a while ago...

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I still don't understand how the song defamed Rosa Parks' character? Unless of course she had a high-profile merger that fell by the wayside when her connections in the Japanese securities market found out about it...

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

it's pretty weird this whole thing.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I always confuse Rosas Parks and Luxemburg (for real, I'm not trying to make an obscure joke here). Is she the woman on the bus?

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe she just doesn't like the idea of being associated with rap music at all. I don't see how it is grounds for a lawsuit though.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

i was just about to post this same thing. This seems pretty groundless. I'm guessing Ms. Parks has some nasty lawyers looking to make a buck. I mean, she's 90, I doubt she personally encountered the song and took offence. On top of that, I don't see what there is to take offence at.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

It said the defendants needed to show some artistic reason for calling the song "Rosa Parks." The
appeals court sent the case back for more hearings to determine whether use of her name was
symbolic, as the defendants argued, or disguised commercial advertisement.

I think there's something to that. It's a slippery slope for sure, but certainly a person has a right to fight for their name and likeness. That doesn't mean she should win (see that who Eminem mentioned in song), but it's a worthwhile debate.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

you would've thought Parks would be adverse to trying to hinder the progress of black artists. mind you, she does have a reputation as being a bit stroppy to upholad...

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark, do you mean Luxemburg the country?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

It's always weird to see questions of art and symbolism being adjudicated in a court of law. I wonder how you could show that you had "artistic reasons" for doing something.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG :D

― Allyzay, Monday, 8 December 2003 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

"I put it to the plaintiff that she hates fun"

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Taking sides: Cultural Significance

Rosa Parks v. OutKast

Wasn't there some Chris Rock bit about how the only reason Rosa Parks is fameous is because she got tired?

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

hahahaha, i love Chris Rock

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess now Outkast will have to do an album of songs about their fans to pay for the lawsuit.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

but that's the thing, she famous, but she's not really a public figure. I mean, she didn't get rich, she didn't acquire power. She's never (as far as I know) used her fame for her own personal gain. So I think she does have the right to protest when her name or likeness is used--which does IMPLY endorsement--in a way that she doesn't agree with.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

oh it's just for the moola, come on

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha, hip-hop is dead, killed by the civil rights movement!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

still they can afford it

(comment made before release of lastest album)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago)

i sure hope Rodney King doesn't sue Lucky People Centre...

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

and God sues Billy Connolly - crazy times!!!

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

ha, 'he' could sue Andre too...defamation of (male) character...

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Wasn't there some Chris Rock bit about how the only reason Rosa Parks is fameous is because she got tired?

This was from Barbershop, now that I think about it...

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Cedric

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

oh well, it sounds like something Rock would say, and i love him for that

*darts off*

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Cedric took mad heat for it (forgot to finish sentence)
xpost

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Didn't the Neville Bros also write abt 'Sister Rosa'? I guess that was more 'respectful'

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Cedric also got slammed for the "FUCK JESSE JACKSON!" comment, completely ignoring the fact that yes, in a black barbershop you are very likely to encounter a cantankerous old-timer who is liable to shout "FUCK JESSE JACKSON!" and go on to point out all of his failings/shortcomings in excruciatingly funny detail.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.nevillebrothers.com/images/pics.jpg

http://www.rasputins.com/manifesto/archives/images/outkast2.jpg

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Dan, I shouldn't have posted that, I do know the difference but wasn't sure in the first moment. I hope you're not laughing at me because I'm an ignorant racist or anything.

(Luxemberg as in the executed German (?) pre-war communist leader)

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

people are morons

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Going by that picture, I think that Rosa is just pissed that Andre stole her housecoat.

(xpost Mark, I'm laughing because I'm imagining someone confusing a person with a country!)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I was looking for one more outlandish, but you get my point...

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

(The image came about because I initially read "Rosas" as a typo, BTW.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

she famous, but she's not really a public figure. I mean, she didn't get rich, she didn't acquire power. She's never (as far as I know) used her fame for her own personal gain.

I'm not so sure you have to choose to be a public figure. See: Monica Lewinsky. [insert Perry-esque joke about celebrity being thrust upon you.] The majority of public figures are entertainers but not all.

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

the yahoo article is typically misleading in its historical rundown (as most accounts of her bus shenanigans are) - it repeats the humanist whitewash that she was just one plucky li'l lady who bucked the system, bringing a whole nation behind her. in fact her refusal to give up her seat was massively coordinated w/civil rights organizers; they chose the bus, the moment, the day when it would be most effective and have the best chance to be heard by the right judges, etc. It's just another example of a genuine social movement being romantically smallified into One Heroic Individual (other notable examples: the authors of the Gospels; Martin Luther King; Eric Clapton)

she can't have been happy w/a song whose chorus says "everybody move to the back of the bus" and makes no further reference to her, or civil rights in general ... but i can't imagine how she came to bring the suit, or who played her the song first

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

haha Outkast caught in "making no sense" shocker

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

smallified?

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It's just another example of a genuine social movement being romantically smallified into One Heroic Individual

Yes, just like every genuine social movement ever conceived.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Cromulent word, etc...

― ModJ (ModJ), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Ms.Parks have some objection to the word "crunk"? I can't imagine why/how she'd feel slighted by it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

"Crunk" is slang for robot.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:45 (twenty-one years ago)

She's a posture-Nazi and as such cannot abide to be shown endorsing slumping.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ms Parks are you now, or have you ever been, the type of people make the club get crunk?"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 8 December 2003 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(Luxemberg as in the executed German (?) pre-war communist leader)

Yeah, I get that confusion occasionally. Rosa Lux is German, executed just after WW1. Surely Primal Scream could be sued by every Civil Rights hero evah?

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 10:11 (twenty-one years ago)

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