The weird little legal spat between Dee Snider and Clive Palmer has taken a hilarious turn as the singer reveals his less-than-flattering thoughts about the businessman’s version of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’.
Well this has gone from weird to unexpectedly funny.
So to recap what has gone on with this strange fustercluck of a story, businessman Clive Palmer came under fire from Twisted Sister for using a rewritten version of the band’s song ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for a 2019 political advertisement for his United Australia Party without permission, even after getting in touch with the band beforehand.
Like most people who come across Clive Palmer, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider wasn’t none too pleased with Palmer and his blatant rip-off, which changed the original song’s lyrics to “Australia ain’t gonna cop it / No, Australia’s not gonna cop it / Aussies not gonna cop it / Anymore.”
Snider denounced the businessman with a strongly-worded tweet before stating that the band will sue.
No we do not endorse @PalmerUtdParty! We are contacting our legal team to address this and if that doesn't work…I'LL BE DOWN UNDER IN THREE WEEKS TO DEAL WITH IT MYSELF! https://t.co/h9T2O2GAkQ
— Dee Snider🇺🇸🎤 (@deesnider) January 1, 2019
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Now fast forward to 2020 and legal proceedings are underway in regards to Palmer ripping off Twisted Sister’s song. Since COVID-19 has made international next-to-impossible, Snider appeared in Federal Court via video link from the U.S. to be cross-examined about whether all this publicity could help sell tickets for his Australian tour.
And boy was he not mincing words with what he thought about Palmer’s version of ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’.
According to his testimony (as per ABC News), Snider says he has “every reason” to think the publicity won’t help ticket sales to his Australian tour, explaining “that the rendition was awful, the message was misrepresented, and Mr Palmer’s image is not good for my heavy metal image either.”
“There is nothing to be gained from my association.”
As for Palmer’s defence in this, his legal team argues that ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ lacks originality due to its (dubious) similarity to the Christmas carol ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ and thus it’s not possible to rip it off.
Yeah.
The case is expected to run all week so we’ll just have to wait and see how this weird little saga concludes.
Check out ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ by Twisted Sister:
