Features
Gigs & Bytes: Kings For A Day
Celebrity sex tapes have been an industry unto themselves ever since night-vision footage of Paris Hilton cavorting with her then-boyfriend Rick Solomon hit the Net three years ago. Since then, aficionados of vids starring big names getting down and dirty have seen celebs like Fred Durst and Colin Farrell star in their own unauthorized releases.
This time it’s Kid Rock and Scott Stapp whose sexcapades have found immortality on the Web. Evidently the footage was shot in a motor home in the Miami area back in 1999 when Rock was touring with Stapp’s former band, Creed. A short clip has been making the rounds, and while it doesn’t actually show any great detail, it’s obvious Rock, Stapp and the roomful of women are doing, well, pretty much what you expect when you mix rock stars and overly friendly young ladies.
But it was only a matter of time before one of the stars finally reacted to having his “O” face plastered across cyberspace. Kid Rock has won a temporary injunction to prevent World Wide Red Light District, the same company that brought Hilton’s famous clip to the world, from posting preview clips on its Web sites.
Rock’s lawyers filed suit against Red Light February 21st, claiming the company violated trademark and privacy rights. The temporary injunction only covers the 40-second clip, but Rock is seeking a permanent injunction preventing future distribution and sales of the video.
Red Light’s lawyers claim their client is well within its legal rights to show the video, saying that, because both Rock and Stapp are public figures, privacy standards are different from those for ordinary mortals. Red Light is saying that the company acquired the tape from a “third party.”
Rock says in the lawsuit that the tape was to remain Stapp’s private property and would not be shown publicly.
And what does Stapp have to say?
While the singer has yet to file any legal action on his own, perhaps his comment near the end of the clip says it all:
“It’s good to be the king,” says Stapp in the video.