A Lawsuit Accuses A Pooping Unicorn Toy Of Ripping Off The Black Eyed Peas’ Song “My Humps”
The Black Eyes Peas may have retired from playing their hit song My Humps live more than a decade ago, but that doesn’t mean a trick won’t sue over copyright infringement for it. The 2005 song from their fourth album, Monkey Business, changed the landscape of body-part-related songcraft–I mean, it hits all the parts! What are “my humps” exactly? Anything, everything, whatever part you want them to be. Although, it is certainly not unicorn poop–at least, not unlicensed unicorn poop. Publisher BMG is suing MGA Entertainment over its Poopsie Slime Surprise toys which used a parody version of My Humps called My Poops. Just when you thought the artistic integrity of My Humps couldn’t get lower–Enter: My Poops.
If you wanna feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror, well, look around, bitch. But specifically, check out this music video featuring four CGI unicorn girls dancing while singing about poop.
In a word: Godless. I feel like my IP address was put on a watch list for searching for this video. I had to take breaks watching it to try to clear my mental psyche from the brink of suicide. But BMG isn’t suing because MGA turned My Humps into some VERY QUESTIONABLE unicorn child poop anthem; it’s just simple copyright infringement. Send them their unicorn child poop money!
Billboard says that a lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court last Thursday. My Humps came out almost two decades ago, but this My Poops song came out at least two years ago since it’s been on YouTube since then. Unclear why the lawsuit is happening now, but it’s never too late to stop this unicorn monstrosity.
Released to promote MGA’s Poopsie Slime Surprise toys – unicorns that release sparkling “unicorn poop” slime – the song at issue features similar musical elements to the original, but with joke lyrics like “Whatcha gonna do with all that poop, all that poop.”
In addition to copying key musical elements, BMG says MGA’s song features a lead vocalist who “sounds very similar” to Black Eyed Peas lead singer Fergie.
“Music, especially a hit song such as ‘My Humps,’ adds great value when incorporated into a product or used in a video advertisement, because it increases consumer recognizability, consumer engagement and attention to the product,” BMG wrote in its lawsuit. “The infringing work is so substantially similar to My Humps that it is obvious that the infringing work was intentionally copied.”
MGA’s song was released as a music video on YouTube, but BMG claims the copycat song was also incorporated into actual products. A sticker on the Poopsie Slime Surprise packages directed users to the video, the publisher says, and the actual dolls will play a snippet of the song when a “heart-shaped bellybutton” is pressed.
“Defendant has been selling the Dancing Unicorn Toys incorporating the Infringing Work all over the world and has received substantial revenue,” BMG’s lawyers wrote. “The Poopsie Slime Surprise product line has generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for Defendant.”
BMG accuses MGA’s song of stealing the melody, bass line, rhyme scheme, chord progression, and cadence. The lawsuit adds that one of the unicorns uses “a similar delivery and vocal inflections as used by Fergie.” And they claim the title is “an obvious play” on the original.
Well, these toys are horrifying and also expensive ($100 to $300), but according to the internet, the line has been quietly discontinued, so there will be no more unicorn poop toys or hit singles in the near future. Thankfully, the toys stopped being made before we got to the unicorn-poop-hologram-concert phase of the apocalypse.