Back in May, the New York Post interviewed Metallica frontman, James Hetfield, and they asked him how he felt about celebrities wearing the band’s shirts, as a fashion statement.
Hetfield replied, “I remember when that whole Justin Bieber wearing a Metallica T-shirt went viral, I thought “So what?” This is America, you can wear whatever the f - - k you want. If he doesn’t know the history of the band or whatever, it’s fine. I wear lots of stuff and I have no idea of the history, I just like the logo…Everyone is welcome here….”
On the heels of that subject, here comes today’s story (via blabbermouth.net):
Kylie and Kendall Jenner have apologized for selling “vintage” T-shirts with the pair’s faces superimposed over some of rock and rock’s biggest icons.
The T-shirts in question were unveiled on the sisters’ Kendall + Kylie online shop Wednesday, and featured images of Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors, the late rappers, Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, overlaid with Instagram shots of the model/reality star siblings.
Voletta Wallace, Notorious B.I.G.’s mother, criticized the Jenners in an Instagram post while a lawyer for the rapper’s estate threatened legal action should the shirts, which were on sale for $125 each, continued to be sold on their web site. In the post, Wallace also claimed that they had not been contacted with a request to use his image.
“I am not sure who told @kyliejenner and @kendalljenner that they had the right to do this,” Wallace captioned an image of one of shirts with a giant red X emblazoned over it. “The disrespect of these girls to not even reach out to me or anyone connected to the estate baffles me. I have no idea why they feel they can exploit the deaths of 2pac and my Son Christopher to sell a t-shirt. This is disrespectful, disgusting, and exploitation at its worst!!!”
Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne posted a scathing tweet in which she wrote, “Girls, you haven’t earned the right to put your face with musical icons. Stick to what you know … lip gloss.”
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Jeff Jampol, manager of The Doors and the Jim Morrison estate, slammed the pair for their decision to sell the unauthorized clothing. “This is a case of people who fashion themselves as celebrities who are famous for being well-known but don’t actually do anything trying to utilize and steal and capitalize on the legacies of those who actually did do something and created amazing art and messages,” Jampol said. “It’s ironic, at least, and criminal, at worst, both morally, ethically and artistically.”
Jampol added the surviving members of the band had “zero contact” with the Jenners.
“They’re obviously attention-seeking missiles who crave celebrity and being well-known but don’t actually do anything,” said Jampol. “It’s the polar opposite of the artists that they’re trampling all over. It’s just spitting in the face and on top of art and message and soul and legacy.”
On June 29th, Kendall and Kylie Jenner apologized for the offensive merchandise, writing in a Twitter message, “These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists. We are huge fans of their music and it was not our intention to disrespect these cultural icons in anyway [sic]. The tee shirts have been pulled from retail and all images have been removed. We will use this as an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and again, we are very sorry.”
22 Responses
Dana 300 dollars for vintage tees damn I wonder if my old Guns n Roses T-shirt I got from the 88 Guns Deep Purple and Aerosmith show at Giants stadium. I got from one those people who sell the knock offs I did buy an Aerosmth shirt that I customized. Hell that was one of the best shows I ever saw!
I am sure they may be worth more than you know.
I don’t think their fans of any type of music only themselves.
Spot on, Charles.
The worst part of all of this is my 12 year old wears my Screaming For Vengeance and Number of the Beast T Shirts and he’s worn the crap out of them. Geez I’m almost as dumb as a Jenner.
Lol!! You’re not dumb, how would you know they are fashionable commodity?
Let’s be honest here. These two girls (Kylie, who I’m convinced is actually retarded) had nothing to do with these shirts. This – just like all other things Kardashian/Jenner – is the work of Kris Jenner. For all the credit she gets for being such a scary marketing/business genius, using other artists’ images without permission and then superimposing their their own was just an arrogant move or a stupid move…or both. The two sisters apologizing was just a PR move orchestrated by (you guessed it!) Kris Jenner. Also, her batting average this year hasn’t been so good. Anyone remember the Pepsi commercial fiasco?
RTunes,
I am sure you are a thousand percent correct, that the ultimate pimp, Kris Kardoucheian, was the “brains” behind this asinine idea. That being said, one would think she would have known the legal ramifications, of using these images without permission.
Additionally, these girls aren’t brain dead (although, an argument could be made there), I am sure they knew they were going to receive major backlash for trying to profit off the images of iconic musicians and their logos.
Although this trashy family seems to feel there is no such thing as bad publicity, this little stunt, surely proved otherwise.
If they put any likeness of Kiss on their shirts – I will sue the Kardashians for every penny they have and then will make a sex tape with all of them, mom included.