Gorrilla

How typical. I am stopping my donations to the MPT until the ugly gorilla returns. You can debate the artistic value of the thing but this is just as true for the "Freddie lion". What really puts me off is the attitude towards another charity. Looking at twitter it is a publicity disaster - even Brian May voiced his disapproval in public.

Further goes to show how much of a hypocrite Brian May actually is - he knows full well that the charity is doing this to promote the continued protection of a species. I wonder what would have happened had someone painted a badger in FM's image?

Laughable and particularly sad given that I'd come to think that Brian had a real passion for wildlife conservation. Clearly its only for things that are on his OWN agenda........

This whole affair is about the use of the Queen-crest on the back of the gorilla. Please inform yourselves, even if that means looking beyond the article.

pathetic and pedantic. adam lambert, pepsi, 5ive, robbie williams Queen today have sunk to new depths.

thomasquinn, re:

>This whole affair is about the use of the Queen-crest on the back of the gorilla. Please inform yourselves, even if that means looking beyond the article.

Bullshit. If it matters that much to Brian that hedgehogs and badgers are reprieved, surely he doesn't object to a logo, created by a world-famous someone that is dead and bears a name that would help to drive publicity for the cause of a flagship species like gorillas?

Its a simple jealousy that "Queen" and its logo haven't been lent to any of Brian's personal causes and the attendant publicity that would generate which has made him 'pull the plug'.

Brian is a prat. Simple.

But 'dudeofqueen', Brian has slagged off the decision as "petty".

I think you'll find it's more of a Jim Beach decision, being a lawyer and all that.

He's the money man and probably the whole reason why Queen product is now so boring and nothing gets released unless it's 'Magic' or at least 'tached Freddie.

He probably wouldn't have given a shit if the gorilla was wearing a leotard or a kimono.

Where are you people getting this stuff from? This seems to be a mess.

There's mass contradiction and confusion over who asked for the removal of the gorilla. Sources variously say Jim Beach, Queen's management, Freddie's estate, and the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

Now, I may be misguided, but I don't see that the MPT would have any involvement or authority in this matter at all. I think Jim, on behalf of QPL, asked for the removal, and the Go Go Gorilla people later got confused and said the request came from the MPT, and some news outlets further this error by repeating that the MPT were behind it.

Then comes the matter of where exactly the copyright infringement has occurred. Thomas Quinn is admant that the crest is the issue, and I would imagine that that's the only thing here that is actually trademarked. However, the artist (I think, maybe it was one of the other people involved) have been quoted as saying the problem was specifically with the outfit, and I can't find any sources that mention that the crest is the issue (as Thomas seems to impy there are). Another bit of confusion.

Then we turn to Brian's involvement. People upthread seems to be suggesting he's completely for this heavy-handedness, or completely against. I can find no evidence of either position. As far as I can tell, Bri has made one comment on Twitter, which is that he "will find out" about it. He'd not heard of it, and didn't comment either way.

What hasn't helped is that at least one news outlet has attributed to Brian the comments from the person on Twitter who brought it to his attention. It seems, based on the some of the comments here, that this misattribution has spread a bit, leading people to believe that Brian has described the issue as petty, when he said no such thing (that I can see). Another fine mess.

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from [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23226366]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23226366[/url]

'Organisers of Go Go Gorillas, a public art trail in Norwich, were contacted by Queen's manager Jim Beach on behalf of the Freddie Mercury estate'.

'A spokesman for the Freddie Mercury estate said it would "not be making any comment"'.

'"They just said that they own the copyright on the suit and asked us to change it," Mr Langhorne said.'
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from [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23228635]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-23228635[/url]

'Organisers of Go Go Gorillas, a public art trail in Norwich, were contacted by Mercury Phoenix Trust, an Aids charity set up in memory of the Queen singer who died in 1991.The charity claimed the suit the gorilla painted on to the sculpture breaches copyright.

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from [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/freddie-mercury-gorilla-dressed-queen-2041171]http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/freddie-mercury-gorilla-dressed-queen-2041171[/url]

'But after the £800 installation went on display the creators were told to change it by Aids charity The Mercury Phoenix Trust,The trust was founded in 1992 after Mercury’s death from the illness and has become an authority on all the images and rights associated with the legendary singer'

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Original Twitter post that brought the issue to Brian's attention and his repsonse (curiously, I can't see this on Brian's feed any more...) - [url=https://twitter.com/DrBrianMay/status/354219285511536640]https://twitter.com/DrBrianMay/status/354219285511536640[/url]

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Page that up until today was putting the above Twitter user's words into Brian's mouth - [url=http://www.planetrock.com/news/rock-news/brian-may-angered-by-freddie-mercury-gorilla-row/]http://www.planetrock.com/news/rock-news/brian-may-angered-by-freddie-mercury-gorilla-row/[/url]

Today that page has changed, and no longer has the error. Confirmation that the error had been made is here - [url=https://twitter.com/snudge27/status/354698818572394497]https://twitter.com/snudge27/status/354698818572394497[/url]

Wow, maybe you can write a thesis on this when it's all over.

Fuck copyright - on the band's crets or 'Freddie's suit'. The issue at hand is raising awareness of the plight of gorillas; is that not more important? Brian ought to be putting his foot down straight away and publicly allowing it to happen (regardless of the position of Beachy-Boy and his legal pansies) to show that his stance on the natural world isn't limited just to causes that he has formally lent his name to.

Brian May is a prat. Simple.

Brian has explained this issue in his website.

[QUOTE]

[b]splicksplack wrote: [/b] Wow, maybe you can write a thesis on this when it's all over.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I couldn't sleep the night before so did a lot of reading on this to pass the time. I was annoyed that people were getting it so wrong and that there was a distinct lack of clarity on the issue. So I decided to do my bit to try and set the record straight.

I probably did go overboard, and normally I wouldn't give a shit about something like this (in fact I don't actually give the slightest shit, to be honest!) but hey ho, I was bored.

At least now that Bri's explained the situation I can see that I was essentially right.

Now, that thesis isn't gonna write itself...

Never make me boring.....

Being potrait as gorilla in an artexibition is a great honour. Freddie lives, also as artist. Pretty sure He would aprove.

Brian says that:

" the people who run Freddie's estate try to safeguard Freddie's reputation, just as if he were still around. They will pursue anyone who tells a lie about him, or does something which could impugn Freddie's integrity or image"

Well that's bollox - I've heard parts of some of the fucking abysmal Freddie remixes they've sanctioned and released over the years, so they're the worst bloody offenders!! ??

Wondering how much it wil cost:)

re:

>" the people who run Freddie's estate try to safeguard Freddie's reputation, just as if he were still around. They will pursue anyone who tells a lie about him, or does something which could impugn Freddie's integrity or image"

Brian and Roger must be shitting themselves then with the way they've hawked Freddie's material around to the highest bidder and collaborated with complete retards.

Brian May is a prat. Simple.