“If you are going to rip off someone else’s work, maybe don’t include the name of the person you’re ripping off”, host says. Via Rolling Stone.
John Oliver returned to one of his favorite stories – the copyright lawsuit between Eminem’s publishers and a New Zealand political party – on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight.
It was nearly three years ago that the host first relished in New Zealanders’ pronunciation of “Eminem”, and with the trial finally underway, Oliver updated viewers on “unquestionably the lamest rap beef since Lil Wayne’s five-year feud with William H. Macy”.
As last week’s proceedings revealed, the National Party didn’t use Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in a campaign ad; instead, they employed a sound-alike track titled “Eminem-esque”.
“If you are going to rip off someone else’s work, maybe don’t include the name of the person you’re ripping off”, Oliver said. “Call it something less obvious like ‘This May or May Not Be Copyright Infringement’, or ‘Please Don’t Tell Anybody About This’, or ‘Blurred Lines'”, a nod to the lawsuit-losing Robin Thicke song.
Oliver then provided video of the trial, highlighting a moment that featured a bunch of attorneys wearing robes, listening to the 8 Mile classic.
“Some define comedy as tragedy plus time, but for me the purest definition is a middle-aged Kiwi in a robe playing Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’ to a completely silent and motionless courtroom”.
The trial continued Monday, as the New Zealand Herald notes, with a musicologist playing a medley of songs for the courtroom, including Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven”, Justin Bieber’s “Where Are You Now” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.
[via Rolling Stone]
