Beastie Boys Respond To ‘Girls’ Parody Video & Lawsuit

GoldieBlox is a toy company that aims to break down gender stereotypes and inspire young girls to one day pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math by selling engineering and construction toys specifically targeted to girls.
The company posted a video online last week, which has been viewed more than 8.6 million times, with new lyrics set to the Beastie Boys’ 1987 song. The two-minute video features three girls using a Rube Goldberg machine made out of pink, princess toys typically marketed to girls. Instead of wishing for girls to do the dishes and laundry, GoldieBlox’s lyrics proclaim, “Girls – to build the spaceship, girls – to code the new app, girls – to grow up knowing that they can engineer that.”

The surviving members of the Beastie Boys issued an open letter Monday through their PR rep, Nasty Little Man, in response to a lawsuit filed last week by GoldieBlox in United States District Court in California.

The lawsuit, which was posted online by Scribd.com (via San Francisco Chronicle), claims “the Beastie Boys have now threatened GoldieBlox with copyright infringement” because the video “is not fair use” and is an unauthorized use of the band’s intellectual property.

GoldieBlox defended its video by saying it “has gone viral on the Internet, and has been recognized by the press and the public as a parody and criticism of the original song.”

Here’s what Mike D and Ad-Rock have to say:

“Like many of the millions of people who have seen your toy commercial ‘GoldieBlox, Rube Goldberg & the Beastie Boys,’ we were very impressed by the creativity and the message behind your ad. We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.

“As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads. When we tried to simply ask how and why our song ‘Girls’ had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US.”

Ad-Rock also referenced the issue on his Twitter page Monday in hopes of setting the record straight. He wrote, “You guys ..Don’t get it twisted. We did not threatened to sue Goldiblox .. THEY’RE SUING US.”

Thom Yorke says he’s on the band’s side. The Radiohead frontman tweeted a link to the open letter and added, “I support the beasties here > I would be v upset too!”