Kanye West dares Famous celebs to sue him, then changes his mind - Action News
Home WebMail Friday, November 22, 2024, 06:28 PM | Calgary | -11.5°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Entertainment

Kanye West dares Famous celebs to sue him, then changes his mind

Kanye West might profess to be millions of dollars in debt, but that's not stopping him from asking to be sued by the people in his new video for the song Famous.

Rapper's latest music video features naked lookalikes of Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby and others

Kanye West is inviting more controversy after unveiling the video for his song Famous. (Richard Drew/The Associated Press)

Warning: this story contains explicit language andimages

Kanye West might profess to bemillions of dollarsin debt, but that's not stopping him from asking to be sued by the peoplein his new video for the song Famous.

No really, he's asking to be sued.

The messagebelow wasposted to the rapper's Twitter account andthen hastily removed, but not before it was screen-grabbed and retweetedmany times over.

A tweet posted to Kanye West's account was removed, but not before it was retweeted several times over. (Twitter/Twitter.com)

It comesafter West premiered the controversial music video for hissong Famous,which is now streaming on Tidal.

The nine-minutevideo vaguely resembling a short film depicts a number of celebrities West has had good and bad relationshipswith, including hisex-girlfriend Amber Rose, Bill Cosby, George W. Bushand Taylor Swift.

Swift and West's ongoing publicbeef began in2009 when he crashed the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards during her acceptance speech and has continued until now over these lyrics fromFamous.

"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b@$chfamous."

Many of the 12naked bodies, lying in a bed sleeping on rumpled white sheets together,arelookalikes, but appear remarkably like the famous people they portray. It becomes difficult to tell who's real and who's not, an ambiguity West was clearly hoping for.

Among them are Donald Trump, Rihanna, Vogue's Anna Wintour, Caitlyn Jenner and West's wife, Kim Kardashian West.

The Famous bed also includes West himself and Ray J, who was involved in the 2003 sex tape scandal with Kardashian that launched her fame.

Knowingthe videowould raise eyebrows,hedid a special screeningat The Forum in Los Angeles Friday forthousands of people.

The bulk of the video is grainy and dark, resembling something captured with a home video.

At the end, he lists the celebrities by name and gives them "special thanks" for "being famous."

So could West actually get sued for this?

"You could make the case," Larry Zerner, an entertainment lawyer,told the CBC in Los Angeles.

Zerner, who was speaking generally about the video,said the issue isn't about copyright or trademark it's a civil matter called right of publicity, which varies from state to state in the U.S.

In California, the provision can protectagainst unauthorized use of a person's likeness for commercial oradvertising purposes.

"This is where it gets a little tricky," said Zerner."The question here for me is whether the video is considered an artistic work protected by the First Amendment or just a commercial for the album or the song."

In arecent interview with Vanity Fair, West told the magazine the video, which was inspired by artist Vincent Desiderio'spaintingSleep,is "a comment on fame."

It might also become a legal matter, if any of the celebsabove decide to take West up on his Twitter invitation.