Lawyers
for civil rights activist Rosa Parks requested that an appeals
court reinstate her lawsuit against Outkast, whom she claims
misused her name in a their song "Rosa Parks."
Lawyers for
the 88 year old Parks claimed that she has the right to
sue to challenge the Outkast’s use of her name, which appeared
on the 2.5 million seller, Aquemini. She objects that the
group used her name in the song and the advertising for
it without her permission. She further claims that she was
offended by the racial slurs in the song.
“This lady
was deeply wounded by that,” Johnnie Cochran, a lawyer
for Parks, argued before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“Rosa Parks is an icon in this country. She’s the mother
of the civil rights movement, … Because she stood up,
we can all stand up.”
Outkast’s lawyer,
Joseph Beck, is claiming that the song is protected by the
First Amendment and that the group doesn’t have to compensate
Parks at all. OutKast’s lawyer, Joseph Beck, argued that
the Grammy-nominated song is protected by the First Amendment
and that the rap group does not have to compensate Parks.
Cochran said
that the group could express themselves anyway they wished,
but they can be held accountable for the content that is
contained in their songs.
He urged the
appeals court to send the case back to Hackett in Detroit
for trial.
Appeals judges
Alan Norris, R. Guy Cole Jr. and John Holschuh took the
case under review and didn’t say when they will rule.
Beck said one
of OutKast’s lines in the disputed song, “move to the back
of the bus,” was derived from Parks’ experience. OutKast
intended the line as a message of displeasure to other rap
artists that OutKast doesn’t approve of, Beck told the judges.
“They are tying
themselves to her, metaphorically,” Beck said of OutKast.
Judge Holschuh
responded: “The fact is, counsel, that that’s the antithesis
of what Rosa Parks stood for. She refused to move to the
back of the bus.”
