Black Eyed Peas sue toy company over singing, pooping unicorn
Black Eyed Peas’ music publisher BMG Rights Management has taken legal action against a toy company over alleged similarities between one of their iconic tracks, and one sung by a pooping unicorn.
The Poopsie Slime Surprise: Dancing Unicorn toy is created by MGA (the company behind Bratz). According to the lawsuit, the toys sing a song called ‘My Poops’ at the push of its heart-shaped bellybutton. However, that track allegedly rips off the rap group’s 2005 hit, ‘My Humps’.
The lawsuit (via Reuters) reported alleged similarities in the songs’ melodies, lyrics, chords and other elements. BMG also said the singer of ‘My Poops’ sounds “very similar” to Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie.
“My poops, my poops my poops my poops. Whatcha gonna do with all that poop, all that poop,” sings the toy.
“I drive my parents crazy, I do it every day,” it continues. On ‘My Humps’, Black Eyed Peas’ Fergie sings “I drive these brothers crazy, I do it on the daily.”
BMG have claimed that the Poopsie Slime Surprise toy line has earned MGA tens of millions of dollars and part of that success is down to ‘My Poops’, which was also used to advertise the product. MGA apparently also ignored cease-and-desist notices from BMG.
BMG have asked the court for at least $10million (£8.7million) in damages but have declined to comment on the case.
Last year, Will.i.am told NME that he was working on a new Black Eye Peas album. ”We’ve been working on it actively for the past months and keep recording while on the road,” he said.
“Being able to go on tour again was probably one of the best pieces of news for us after this pandemic. We like traveling, we love performing. That’s our fuel, our way to find inspiration, still be creative and try new things. After a seven years break with the Black Eyed Peas, we could have disappeared and never reached that success again. But we worked hard, tried to reinvent ourselves, teamed up with Latin artists and pushed it out of our comfort zone. It worked. You can never take anything for granted. You still have to learn,” he added.
