Media Wonk

John McCain not worthy? (Updated) - August 13, 2008

Media Wonk is certainly no political expert so he won't try to handicap the presidential race. But there's one area where Republican John McCain is clearly ahead of his Democratic rival Barack Obama: take-down notices. The latest comes from Mike Myers, who was not amused to find himself and Dana Carvey appearing in McCain's latest ad bashing Obama for his alleged celebrity. The ad featured a snippet of the duo doing their "we are not worthy" bit from the movie Wayne's World. According to a blog post by McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb on the campaign's Web site, "Myers had his people call the campaign to demand that the video be removed from YouTube for copyright violation. Apparently, we are not, in fact, worthy." The ad still appears on the campaign's Web site with the Wayne's World clip excised.

The incident isn't the first time the McCain Campaign has found itself on the wrong end of a copyright claim. Last month, it had to pull another celebrity-bashing ad after Warner Bros. records complained about the use of two Frankie Valli songs without permission. Singer John Mellencamp demanded McCain stop playing his music (again, used without permission) at campaign events. In June, composer (and Barack Obama supporter) Christopher Lennertz was dismayed to discover his music for the video game Medal of Honor being used in a McCain without his permission, although he wasn't able to bring a claim because he doesn't control the rights to the music.

Looks like the recently proposed White House IP Czar would have her hands full in a McCain Administration.

UPDATE: Singer/songwriter Jackson Brown filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the McCain Campaign charging copyright infringement over the unauthroized use of Brown's "Running on Empty" in an ad. Press release is here.

LEAVE A COMMENT