Country band Lady A, formerly Lady Antebellum, is coming under fire for suing black blues singer Lady A for the use of their trademark.
As you may recall, Lady A (band) revealed their name change last month amidst the Black Lives Matter movement. Antebellum is a word that has confederate roots, and refers positively to life before the civil war in the South.
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Lady A (band) has now announced that they have entered a lawsuit with Lady A (singer) in an effort to move forward with their new name.
“Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended. She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years,” the band said in a statement to ET Canada .
“It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by,” they continued.
“When we learned that Ms. White had also been performing under the name Lady A, we had heartfelt discussions with her about how we can all come together and make something special and beautiful out of this moment.”
“We never even entertained the idea that she shouldn’t also be able to use the name Lady A, and never will — today’s action doesn’t change that. Instead, we shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We felt we had been brought together for a reason and saw this as living out the calling that brought us to make this change in the first place.”
“We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to work together with Anita for that greater purpose. We’re still committed to educating ourselves, our children and doing our part to fight for the racial justice so desperately needed in our country and around the world. We’ve only taken the first small steps and will prioritize racial equality as a key pillar of the work of LadyAID, specifically leaning into supporting and empowering our youth. We hope Anita and the advisers she is now listening to will change their minds about their approach. We can do so much more together than in this dispute.”
However, this story is not sitting well with many people.
For the band to change their name to Lady A in an effort to combat their racist name, only to turn around and sue a Black artist is not a good look.
Singer Lady A has been around since the 1980’s, and has gained a supportive fanbase throughout her decades long career.
In response to the drama, she told Newsday : “I received a draft agreement from the Antebellum camp. I’m not happy about [it] yet again after talking in good faith… Their camp is trying to erase me and I’ll have more to say tomorrow. Trust is important and I no longer trust them.”
It’s clear that Lady A (singer) did not find the “heartfelt” phone calls and texts as inspiring as the band did.
Fans are standing with the blues singer in hopes that she will not have to enter an expensive legal battle with a band worth $41 million.
While speaking with *Rolling Stone* magazine, Lady A accused the band of not doing their research before filing for the trademark.
“You found me on Spotify easily,” she told the publication. “Why couldn’t they?”
What do you think of the whole situation? Let us know in the comments below!
