According to E! Online, the Beastie Boys are suing Monster Energy for using their songs in a promotional video without permission. The 2012 Ruckus in the Rockies video (whatever that means) is “comprised substantially of excerpts from the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings and the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions totaling more than three minutes in duration.” Not only were the Beastie Boys pissed about their songs being associated with a trashy energy drink, but apparently, the text that accompanied the video implied that the Beastie Boys permitted the use of “their name and intellectual property, and participated in connection with Monster’s promotion of its products and events.” Gross. Who wouldn’t sue?Oh, Monster Energy. Are you stupid? Don’t you know that people love to threaten to sue people in this country? And even more so, don’t you know that famous people love to very publicly sue big companies for tarnishing their image? Come on.This lawsuit is a nice little follow-up to yesterday’s news about Adam “MCA” Yauch protecting the use of his image in his will. The deceased Beastie Boy made it legally impossible for his individual image and music to be used for any advertising purposes. Of course, this doesn’t protect him from the people at Monster Energy who thought that somehow Yauch’s remaining band members might just let this one slide. Get real.
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