Kanye West and Evel Knievel Agree To Lawsuit Mediation
Posted by Michael Melchor on 07.12.2007
Somebody get them a copy of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out"...
On July 10, both Evel Knievel and Kanye West both notified a federal judge that they will use a mediator to try to settle a lawsuit Knievel filed over the use of his trademarked image in a popular West video.
Knievel, who lives in Clearwater, FL, sued West in December over the video for the song "Touch the Sky," in which the rapper takes on the persona of "Evel Kanyevel" and tries to jump a rocket-powered motorcycle over a canyon.
In the video, West dons the familiar Knievel star-studded jumpsuit and jumps a canyon in a vehicle "visually indistinguishable" from the one Knievel used in his attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in 1974, the lawsuit said.
The 68-year-old Knievel claimed infringement on his trademarked name and likeness. He also claimed the "vulgar and offensive" images depicted in the video damage his reputation. West's attorneys argued the video amounted to satire, covered under the First Amendment.
