Search Results for: french

A fashion photographer’s son has sued Madonna, saying the singer copied his late father’s images in a set of videos for her song “Hollywood.” Samuel Bourdin claims he holds the rights to the images created by his father, Guy Bourdin, who died in 1991. The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accuses Madonna of copyright infringement for her imitation of poses and images in at least 11 works of Bourdin, whose photos were published in French Vogue from the mid-1950s through the late 1980s. Samuel Bourdin seeks unspecified damages from the 45-year-old pop star and companies and… Read more »

French telecommunications and entertainment conglomerate Vivendi Universal reported a narrower loss for the first half of the year and its chairman said he hopes to complete the planned sale of its U.S. entertainment assets to General Electric Co.’s NBC division in the second half of next year. Vivendi reported Wednesday it lost €632 million ($723 million) in the January-June period in contrast to a loss of €12.31 billion in the first half of 2002. The company has been selling assets to trim its staggering debt. Vivendi’s operating profit dropped 27 percent in the first half to €1.68 billion ($1.92 billion)… Read more »

It’s about time Grandma finally stood up to Eminem. A 70-year-old California woman is suing the rap superstar, claiming he illegally sampled a section of music from her late husband’s film score for his 1999 debut, The Slim Shady LP, the Smoking Gun Website reports. The suit, filed in federal court last month on behalf of Harlene Stein, accuses Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers) and his mentor Dr. Dre (aka Andre Young) of swiping a 24-second instrumental cue titled “Pigs Go Home” from her hubby Ronald Stein’s composition for 1970’s Getting Straight, a flick starring Elliot Gould and Candice Bergen,… Read more »

Vivendi Universal’s (V) Universal Music Group plans to sharply lower the consumer cost for compact discs, in an effort to bring customers back into retail stores and boost music sales. The move comes as the music industry grapples with a continuing decline in retail sales in the face of rampant piracy and other problems. In a press release Wednesday, Universal Music said it will reduce wholesale prices and implement a $12.98 manufacturer suggested retail price on virtually all of its top-line CDs in the U.S. The plan will eliminate MSRPs of as much as $18.98, and the company believes retailers… Read more »

U.S. television network NBC won Vivendi Universal’s marathon show-business auction on Tuesday with a proposed merger to create a new entertainment industry giant worth more than $40 billion. NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., clinched exclusive negotiating rights to finalize a deal that would give it a major film studio, more cable channels and theme parks to vault the No. 1 U.S. broadcast network closer to the ranks of such global titans as Walt Disney Co. and Viacom Inc. If the deal is completed, the new company, to be called NBC-Universal, would include Vivendi’s Universal Pictures, the Hollywood studio… Read more »

Eminem, who is also known as Slim Shady, is presently facing a lawsuit from a Nevada-based sports apparel company over the usage of the name Shady Ltd. for the rapper’s new clothing line, according to the Detroit Free Press. Shady Inc., a Nevada company that sells t-shirts and hats in Nevada stores and via the Internet, maintains that they’ve been using the name since 1999 and that they had it trademarked in 2001. The company filed a lawsuit in January in Nevada federal court after learning of Eminem’s intentions to launch a clothing line using the Shady name. Eminem has… Read more »

Simple Plan are rolling on the Warped Tour right now and collecting random bits of gossip for us along the way. Our latest installment comes courtesy of lead guitarist Jeff Stinco: It’s 9 a.m. and I wake up to the sound of David screaming in his sleep. Once again, he’s having a nightmare and sounds like he’s getting stabbed by the devil himself. I walk to the front of the bus to take a peek outside and I see an army of men and women already running around everywhere and putting together their tents and stages for today’s show. It… Read more »

Their profanity-laced rock shows in the 1970s and ’80s drew the ire of the U.S. Senate, where Al and Tipper Gore accused them of endangering the morals of America’s youth and undermining parental authority. Two decades later, Twisted Sister is playing New Jersey’s two most family friendly venues – the Meadowlands State Fair, and Six Flags Great Adventure – and the “F” word is strictly off limits, by mutual agreement. Lead singer Dee Snider, who uses it dozens of times in a 90-minute concert, said the costumed, mascara-wearing band best known for hits like “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and… Read more »

Nothing spices up a cheeky pop-punk act like a naughty double entendre. Avril Lavigne’s “Things I’ll Never Say” wouldn’t be quite as euphoric without the line, “I wanna blow you… away.” And who could forget Blink-182’s sort-of-dirty album title Take Off Your Pants and Jacket? English may not be Simple Plan’s first language (French is their native tongue), but they’ve got a firm grasp on how to use it to craft bathroom humor. Their debut album is called No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls, and on their latest hit, “Addicted,” the group snuck a swear word past the censors before… Read more »

Barry Diller’s USA Interactive sued Vivendi Universal on Tuesday over a tax dispute, saying the French entertainment company reneged on its partnership agreement with USA to save much-needed cash. USA and Vivendi formed a joint venture, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, last year combining Universal’s film, television and theme park properties with USA’s cable channels and television production company. Diller recently stepped down as VUE chairman. As part of the deal, USA has claimed Vivendi must make annual payments to reimburse USA for taxes that will become due on income it receives from the preferred shares it owns in VUE. The unusual… Read more »