Legendary stuntman/hero to the kids Evel Knievel is worried Kanye West may destroy Knievel’s $300 million-a-year merch-hawking industry. Knievel, who markets himself as a wholesome daredevil, is suing the rapper for trademark infringement based on what Knievel claims is the tarnishing of his image by West’s “vulgar, sexual and racially charged” appropriation of the stuntman’s image for his “Touch The Sky” video. The video is classic Kanye — he prances around with Pamela Anderson on his arm, takes shit from black girls for making time with a white chick and then does his own rendition of the legendary Knievel-attempted Snake River Canyon jump, posing (with flashy jumpsuit, Skycycle-like bike and all) as Evel Kanyevel. Subtle it is not. But West’s camp seems to feel they’ll get off the hook here based on a widely accepted exception to the trademark and copyright laws for parody.
Knievel, for his part, is livid. “He’s just a disgrace to me,” Knievel reportedly told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “What a cheap shot. What a cheap, two-bit shot.”
We like nothing better than another bit of absurd behavior courtesy of Kanye West but we kinda think Knievel is being a bit of a baby about all this. Are the kids who buy his dorky figurines honestly going to boycott his image because Kanye West impersonated him in some video?

Email
Stumble
AIM
Del.icio.us
DiggThis
Fark It!



- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.