Gabba Gabba maintain on!
A years-long battle over the authorized rights to the legacy of punk rock pioneers The Ramones has lastly been settled after the feud boiled over due to a shelved Pete Davidson-led Netflix biopic concerning the band’s late singer.
However the bitter and private battle could rage on between the members of the family of the founders — who’re all now useless — with a former supervisor nonetheless within the crosshairs now saying he’s unfairly dealing with the prospect of getting to pay hundreds of thousands in authorized charges or judgments.
Guitarist Johnny Ramone’s widow, Linda Cummings-Ramone, was transferred the remaining half of the property firm Ramones Productions Inc. from singer Joey Ramone’s brother, Mickey Leigh, as a part of the deal finalized Wednesday.
The Ramones had been fashioned in Forest Hills in 1974 and performed till 1996 with varied lineups. Though all of them adopted the surname Ramone, not one of the members had been associated.
The switch means Cummings-Ramone — who was Joey’s ex-girlfriend earlier than marrying his former bandmate — now has “free rein to totally management” the property, based on court docket filings. The settlement was struck as Leigh confronted a protracted authorized battle the place he may’ve been on the hook for hundreds of thousands.
The deal additionally permits Leigh to maintain his brother’s track copyrights and different mental property rights, rendering him “lastly free to advertise his brother’s legacy with out company obstruction,” Leigh’s pal and longtime Ramones supervisor Dave Frey stated.
However the extremely anticipated film primarily based on Leigh’s memoir that was meant to protect the singer’s legacy appears all however useless within the water after the rock ‘n roll brouhaha — and nonetheless has Frey caught within the center.
Frey stays a defendant in a $15 million lawsuit alleging he breached his monetary duties to the RPI for floating the Netflix plans.
The ex-manager, nevertheless, argued the still-unproduced movie venture was “secured with STX Movies solely by Mickey’s lawyer, not by me.”
Frey stated the film’s producers have been despatched notification of the settlement, and is now awaiting a call concerning whether or not it’s going to nonetheless be optioned. The movie was to be primarily based on Lee’s memoir of his brother, “I Slept With Joey Ramone.”.
“It might’ve been good for everyone, it might’ve been good for the Ramones as properly,” Leigh stated. “However now we will share with individuals what they’re strolling into, and begin to do much more work for Joey.”
Frey, a former board member for RPI, was first accused in 2023 of violating the property’s settlement by reportedly creating the biopic with out the complete permission of Cummings-Ramone, he stated. Leigh had argued the movie was not a Ramones biopic, however a memoir about his relationship together with his beloved brother.
An arbitrator determined the subsequent 12 months that Frey had acted in “disruptive and adverse conduct” in relation to his board place for pursuing the movie venture, and he was dropped from the board in 2024.
However the ex-manager contends that, “by contract, the movie was primarily based solely on each Mickey Leigh’s private memoir … and the person life rights” of Mickey and his brother, he advised The Put up.
“Subsequently, the venture was not and will by no means be a ‘Ramones movie,’” he stated.
“It’s not a Ramones story,” Leigh beforehand advised The Put up of the guide, which profiles the long-lasting singer who battled debilitating OCD earlier than his 2000 dying.
“It’s a narrative about rising up with a man … who defeated the chances and have become an inspiration to hundreds of thousands. That’s what it’s about.”
Although the flick – introduced in April 2021 – has since been placed on an obvious indefinite maintain, Frey stays in court docket with Cummings-Ramone — and each side should hand over “proof” within the case by the top of the month.
An attraction is pending, Frey stated.
“The seemingly consequence is that I’m going to most likely run out of cash — there’ll be a default judgment in opposition to me,” Frey advised The Put up. “Then I’ll bankrupt, and that’ll be unhealthy: however that’s simply once I see the actual downside.”
The supervisor argues the case, if determined in favor of Cummings-Ramone, may set a troublesome precedent for musicians’ mental property sooner or later.
“Something [done] on their very own in a solo capability [would] must get the approval of their band entity or band firm,” he stated, “as a result of something they do as a solo artist may detract from the band obligations.
“Mickey walked away with Michael Jackson,” he added, “and he or she walked away with the Jackson 5.”
“I had hoped that will be the top of this struggle, and I’m dissatisfied, however sadly not stunned that Mr. Frey determined to exacerbate the hurt he has attributable to making these statements to the Put up,” Cummings-Ramone stated in an electronic mail to a Put up reporter.
“To be clear, RPI and I are nonetheless in litigation with Mr. Frey, and we are going to let his misstatements and ongoing hurt to the corporate be dealt with by that course of.”
Leigh agreed the battle is “probably not over,” noting one current occasion during which the official Joey Ramone profile tied to the band’s social media accounts was changed with a “disturbing” new one created simply earlier than the settlement was inked.
“I nonetheless should oversee issues, there are nonetheless issues that may come up which can be going to trigger battle,” he stated.
“I’m nonetheless apprehensive about my freedom. I’m undecided if I’m free fairly but.”
