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Lady A — the country pop band previously known as Lady Antebellum — announced Wednesday that it plans on suing Lady A, a blues singer who has been using the name for more than a decade, over the name change controversy, CBS News reports.
What’s happening:
- In June, Lady Antebellum announced it was changing its band name to Lady A in response to the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
- Lady A, the blues singer, asked for an apology from the band over the name change, saying the decision took away from the singer, whose real name is Anita White.
- Now, the band Lady A is suing the singer Lady A. The band explained why in a statement to CBS News:
- “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.”
- The band decided to sue after “White’s attempt to enforce purported trademark rights in a mark that plaintiffs have held for more than a decade,” a complaint said, according to CBS News.
- The band does not seek monetary damages from the lawsuit.
Criticism of the band
- White hasn’t responded to multiple outlets about the lawsuit. She did tell Rolling Stone earlier this summer that the name change didn’t sit well with her.
- White told Rolling Stone: “They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn’t have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it.”