The former Lady Antebellum, left (photo by Keith HInkle), soul singer Lady, right (photo via Lady A’s Instagram).
Follow along here, as there are multiple layers of irony at play; On July 8th, country band Lady Antebellum changed their name to simply Lady A to capitulate to the rioting BLM woke cancel culture mob. Turns out a Seattle based blues and soul singer has been going by the name Lady A for 20 years. So now the country Lady A is suing the soul Lady A over the name. The original Lady A, whose real name is Anita White, is black.
That’s right, the white band who placated to the mob in the name of racial justice is now suing a black woman over the stage name the black woman had first.
You can’t make this stuff up!
The Hollywood Reporter reports:
Country group Lady A, which dropped the word “Antebellum” from its name because of the word’s ties to slavery, has filed a lawsuit against a Black singer who has performed as Lady A for years.
The Grammy-winning vocal group filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court after negotiations with Anita White broke down in recent weeks. According to the lawsuit, the band is seeking a ruling that their use of the trademark “Lady A” does not infringe on White’s alleged trademark rights of the same name. The band is not seeking monetary damages.
Evidently the country band released a full statement, as the Pitchfork article published:
Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended. She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years. It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word “Antebellum” from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by.
Will they try to virtue signal their way out of this one?