Is anyone else less than impressed with Justin Timberlake’s new album? I haven’t downloaded any of the songs, so I’m just hearing them on the radio, and they’re all rather… blah. Not actively bad, just boring. There’s nothing really upbeat and sexy, there’s nothing that I would consider a good workout song. I guess JT’s newest single is supposed to fill that void – the single is “Take Back the Night” and it is somewhat reminiscent of the Future Sex/Love Sounds era. Here’s the song:
As I said, the song is called “Take Back the Night”. Take Back the Night is also the name of a popular movement/organization against rape and sexual assaults, specifically on college campuses. My college had “Take Back the Night” nights and they were always big events and rallies to raise awareness of rape and sexual violence. Justin would have known about the organization if he had been to college, but I find it weird that he’s never, ever heard about it before, ever. Which is what he’s claiming now that the organization is threatening to sue:
Justin Timberlake has been threatened with legal action over his “sexy” new single, which shares its title with an anti-rape awareness organisation. Take Back the Night say they are hoping to come to an “amicable” resolution with Timberlake after he used its trademark without permission.
Timberlake’s song was released on Friday. That same day, the Take Back the Night foundation sent him a lawyer’s letter informing him that he had used its name without permission. “His agent said: ‘Justin’s a good guy! He’s a family man!'” Katie Koestner, executive director of the organisation, told Radar. “They claimed he’d never heard of us before he wrote that song. I don’t know what country he’s been in … It’s a big song, and he didn’t take the necessary steps to make sure that it was appropriate.”
For more than 40 years, the phrase “take back the night” has been an international rallying cry for marches against sexual violence. The associated foundation was founded in 1999, with an aim “to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence”. “Normally we get asked when people want to use [our] name,” Koestner said. They have collaborated in the past with TV series such as CSI, and the film The Devil Wears Prada.
In this case, there’s the added problem of Timberlake’s song clashing with some of Take Back the Night’s principles. “The lyrics are definitely very sexual and not at all clearly anti-sexual violence,” Koestner said. “‘Use me,’ for example, is not a great phrase for anyone affiliated with [this] organisation.” Timberlake hasn’t made things easier for himself with an explicit new music video, filled with shots of nearly-naked women.
“Usually people are pretty mindful because no one is actually ‘for’ sexual assault,” Koestner added. “This whole thing with Justin is just really unfortunate and we’re hoping it can be amicably resolved.”
So, Justin didn’t get permission to use “Take Back the Night” and he made it into a “sexy” song with questionable lyrics. After TBTN’s lawyers got in touch with him, Justin released a statement about the situation:
“Upon the release of my new single ‘Take Back The Night’, I was made aware of an organization of the same name called The Take Back The Night Foundation. I wanted to take this opportunity to let all know that neither my song nor its lyrics have any association with the organization. As I’ve learned more about The Take Back The Night Foundation, I’m moved by its efforts to stop violence against women, create safe communities and encourage respectful relationships for women — Something we all should rally around. It is my hope that this coincidence will bring more awareness to this cause.”
This is like Robin Thicke and Pharrell insisting that “Blurred Lines” doesn’t have lyrics that are open to a decidedly “rapey” interpretation. I think JT made a major boo-boo by calling his song “Take Back the Night” and claiming now that NO ONE even mentioned that hey, there’s an anti-sexual-violence organization called that too. JT knew about TBTN, I’m sure. He just didn’t care. He turned “Take Back The Night” from a rallying cry to support victims of sexual violence into a song about sex. Ugh.
Photos of JT, courtesy of WENN.
Never been a JT fan. I just think he believes he is worth more than he really is.
JT is surrounded by advisers, handlers, lawyers, accountants, production personnel from the label and hanger-ons. HE may not have been aware of the organization (and I am not even granting him that); however, it is inconceivable to think no one around him had heard about it or found out about it while the song was being developed.
This.
I can’t believe that for all the people working on his team and all the money spent on producing his albums, no one at the very least Googles the song titles or lyrics to make sure there’s not something already in existence that could cause a legal issue. And even less so that NO ONE involved in this lengthy process has heard of the group.
If they are indeed trademarked, that’s a major fail by his legal team.
Exactly! I hope they get pro-bono legal representation and sue the pants off him!
Not that I’d want to see him without pants. 😛
True, but his reps (PR, agent, manager, business manager, etc.) would have to have known and thought it WORTHY enought to bring up to him. Just because his people are aware of something doesn’t mean that it will get brought up to their client.
I don’t really fault him for this, and I don’t think it is that big of a deal. Hearing the song, it is clear he isn’t talking about either r@pe or the organization.
Stupid little man, with little talent. What do you expect from someone who makes fun of the homeless for his own entertainment.
He’s loving the extra publicity this is getting him. And with his public statement is basically saying that the organization should be grateful for the ‘coincidence’ bc his song will raise awareness or something rather. Bc he and his popularity are a gift to humanity, you see. Yeah right.
Yep. Barf.
Yes. Lainey had some interesting things to say about it yesterday. She pointed out that the tone of it was basically “Lucky TBTN as they will benefit from me,” which is entirely typical of Timberlake’s special brand of narcissistic douchebaggery.
If only that jack*ss hadn’t mentioned the last sentence in his statement it would have been fine but as Lainey always points out and we on here as well Justin Timberdouche can’t help but make everything all about him. Also he is such a fraud copycat copying Robin Thicke’s video and now this desperate attempt to get a rape controversy going with his song. What an epic loser.
While I can totally believe Justin “the world revolves around me” Timberlake has never heard of TBTN, it’s highly unlikely the label’s legal team didn’t. That’s their job afterall, they just disregarded it.
As for his statements, yes of course JT would take credit for shedding light on college rape. He really is a giver.
True dat to EVERYTHING
I live in the UK and never heard of the campaign. Maybe being Justin Timberlake is like living in your own country and he’s genuinely out of touch? He’s never been to college and was in a band from what, 16 ish? Just saying.
This is the first time I am hearing about an anti-rape group called “Take Back the Night” and I am a female and I attended college in the US so I don’t find it strange at all that JT wasn’t aware of this group either.
Same here. I went the largest public university in my state from 2000-2004 and I have never heard of it. So I think it’s entirely possible he had never heard of it either. I hate to defend him, because I really don’t like him but in this case I have to give him a pass.
I had never heard of it either.
So glad to see you all post this. When this story broke I was all, “I’d never heard of Take Back the Night” either!
Sorry to hear that some have not heard of it.
It was one of those things that really stuck out in memories of college.
In candle-lit nighttime rallies, it reminded men and women on campus that rape exists close by, the harm that rape does, the support we must give to fellow students to whom this has happened, to reinforce that we all should be safe in our environment, and iterate the policy changes that can make us so(better night-time lighting, campus buses, emphasized buddy-systems etc.) A “no means no” and “drunk doesn’t mean yes” on steroids. Brave students, and former students, would often recount their experience for the benefit of the listeners.
Same here. Never heard of it. JT is a douche but I think people are getting so outraged simply because it’s Timberlake we’re talking about.
Really? You think his attorneys don’t have google?
TrustMeOnThis…Music Lawyers do not run song titles through Google. They are paid WAAAAAY to much to do google searches all day!
In addition, song titles have quite a bit of artistic license. Even if there is a song that was previously named the same title, it is ok to name your song that too. (Lyrics are a different issue, of course).
Clearly he missed this very important episode of Beverly Hills 90210!
http://youtu.be/k6F6ooSlumQ
I have never heard of it either. I can’t seem to stop taking classes and have spent A LOT of time in various Boston universities.
I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t know what it was, and I graduated in 2008 from college. I didn’t hear about it on campus, though, I think I read about it in a novel.
JT didn’t go to college, and it’s clearly not THAT ubiquitous or else we all would have heard of it. Maybe it’s more concentrated in certain areas, but I completely believe he had no idea.
It’s not like the homeless thing. He’s still a douche, but I give this one a pass. Choose your battles.
I can give him a pass personally, and believe he was not aware. But his legal team? Not so much.
I agree. I heard of it recently before this, but not so much that I associate the phrase with that organization…and I consider myself to be pretty into womens issues. I have heard far more about groups like RAINN.
If you polled guys on the street, I REALLY doubt that even a simple majority would have known about this organization.
Agreed – I’d never heard of it either. I think people just want to jump on this because it’s JT.
It’s ok he never heard of it, I know a lot of people who went to college and don’t know what it’s about, which is a shame.
That being said….Now that he does know I think it’s in very very poor taste to make comments that this coincidence can somehow bring awareness to this cause. I get where he’s going with it (we are talking about it) but given the nature of the song and what Take Back the Night (the organization) stands for, it just seems pretty callous to say he supports respectful relationships and put out a video like this. Hypocritical actually, and very arrogant to – as someone else said- act like this incident is doing them a favor.
I don’t expect much from him when it comes to good but damn, can’t he afford better PR to write his statements?
I don’t think there is anything wrong with pointing out the bright side to something unfortunate, and he is right, this is the first Ive heard of it and am reading more about it right now.
Umm yeah, I go to one of the largest Universities in the United States, and I’ve never heard of them. At least I don’t recall them. I read the school newspaper and frequent the union so it’s not like I’m secluded from campus life, and don’t know whats going on. I think it’s very possible HE didn’t know of them, but you’d think with how everyone gets offended over everything someone along the way would have checked. Having said that, does that organization own the rights to that phrase? Can you own a phrase? I don’t know.
This. Same, same, same. I can understand that it may seem more obvious to someone if they’ve been aware of the organization for awhile, but this is the first I have EVER heard of it, and Im pretty aware. I have a feeling I am far from the only one.
More than that, as an Author Im entirely uncomfortable with them suing him over this, or rather, hoping to get paid for it, because, these coincidences happen so very, very often when writing/creating original content. I love what the organization is doing, but I don’t find that behaviour fair.
I would agree except they have a trademark on it. What’s more important to writers and other creative professions than the protection of intellectual property?
I initially thought I wasn’t aware of the foundation either, but then I remembered the candle-lit walks on campus when I was in college. I didn’t remember the name, but I do remember the cause.
he continues to prove what a douchey idiot he really is.. I learned about the group when I was in my early teens I think. Hell, even 90210 had a whole episode on it (so sad that I remember this)
Marie, I immediately thought of the 901210 episode about it as well!
Hahah! This was my first introduction into Take back The Night, and it always stuck with me!!
http://youtu.be/k6F6ooSlumQ
I was just going to comment and say 90210 is how I knew about it too. And for the record, my university had nothing like TBTN in the mid 2000s.
I am confused.
The organization says it was founded in 1999, but that episode aired in 1993.
I haven’t seen the episode though…
I call BS and if JT had any decency he would donate proceeds from the song to the Take Back the Night Foundation. I wonder why Jessica didn’t advise him to name the song something else.
Did he never watch 90210? That’s where I learned about the movement. Sad, right?
ha ha, thank goodness I’m not the only one who cited 90210.
There is no way that neither he nor a single person involved in producing that album had never heard of the organization. There must be hundreds of people who have input on an album, including all of the marketing people. Surely someone went to college out of that group.
I agree. Not to mention his lawyers, who are there to, you know, do legal shit like look out for possible trademark violations.
I think they knew and didn’t give a crap, not expecting a non-profit (?) to stand up to the almighty JT.
Music lawyers do not run potential titles through a search, they focus on agreements between producers/labels/royalty payments etc.
Many times song titles are finalized atthe last minute. Creative musical work is done separately from the legal work. In addition, it is not illegal to have a song with the same name as another song as long as you don’t borrow lyrics and/or melody.
I’ve heard of the group and I didn’t go to school in the US it’s been in tv shows and movies. If you google take back the night it comes up it isn’t hard to find. There are a lot of people working on this album so none of them heard of it either? JT just wouldn’t care he is been irrelevant for a long time his songs are so boring. But then he married Jessica Beil she isn’t exactly a muse they are such a boring couple and a boring life equals boring songs.
I didn’t attend college but trade school and I’ve known about take back the night since the 80’s I believe. Not buying it
I’m a woman and I’ve gone to college and grad school in big cities and I’ve never heard of this group. Stop hating on him. No doubt the TBTN people are enjoying this publicity as well.
Oh give me a break. This is a very well known organization, he has DOZENS of people working for/with him and no one had heard of it?! They didn’t even google to make sure they weren’t in copyright violation? He’s an idiot, a douche, and/or some combination of both. I hope they do sue and make a fortune for a very worthy cause.
Just asked my co-workers. We are teachers in South Korea and from all over the states; not one has heard of it. Im not sure why people are so convinced it’s SO well known. In very specific areas, maybe? Because the people who know it seem to REALLY know it. The guy who said ‘what country has he been in?’ clearly has more work to do than he thinks.
I had never heard of the organization until I was in my mid twenties. It’s not unheard of. I went to university in a different country which is probably why I had no idea it existed until a couple years ago. And I’m too young to have ever watched 90210.
Ditto to all of that! I think I may have heard the name once or twice before, but when I think of groups for rape crisis outreach, I think of RAINN.
So a major record label releases a song without ever, oh I don’t know, googling a title on their smart phones? BS. More likely he knew and didn’t care. He’s proven himself a big enough douche often enough!
“So a major record label releases a song without ever, oh I don’t know, googling a title on their smart phones”
WHY would they google on a smartphone?
In order for copyright challenges to hold the items have to be SIMILAR. If he started another charity and called it TBTN, then they would have to look into it. The only way he would be violating law in a SONG is by copying another SONG, and even in that realm it isn’t illegal to have same song titles…only lyrics and melody are considered.
I think Robin Thicke stole his thunder this Summer.
I just surprised with product branding that people don’t just google to find out if what they want to put out conflicts with something else. That should apply to music too.
WORD on Robin Thicke.
sooooooooooo YUM.
Blurred lines and Get Lucky are real summer hits: TBH, Blurred lines has questionable lyrics (but I do get his explanation that it’s about blurred lines in sexuality, that you can’t assume about “good girls”), but it’s so catchy!
“Mirrors” is just awful to me: I thought it was newly found Backstreet Boys demo from 1999. Boring and outdated.
Self-important douchebag.
It’s been around for 40+ years.
It’s the first thing that pops up on google.
It’s been mentioned on lots of TV shows since the 90’s.
Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt (which I don’t as he’s worked with women’s abuse charities in the past)-none of the musicians, legal team, marketing team, or record execs have heard of it? REALLY?
Of course he knew-he just didn’t care. Coincidence my ass.
+1
+2 And what an ASS to act like his stupid song will bring more attention to an organisation that’s been in existence for nearly as long as he’s been alive.
Completely agree. Ignorance of the law has never been an excuse. He’s not some dude cutting a demo in his basement, people are supposed to look into this kind of thing.
Talk about ignorance of the law….
In order for copyrights to be violated, they have to be for like items. If he created another charity and called it TBTN, then they would have a case. A song and a charity having the same name does not violate any law.
@Tiffany-Thank you!
This artist I love called Wiseblood has a song called “Target” (yes, it’s actually about the dept store) and no lawsuit from Target.
There are tons of rap songs that mention Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and other designers–never heard of anyone getting sued for it.
I’m pretty sure that they’re protected under the First Amendment and I’m not even sure if they have a strong case here. Still, I think if the song has a strong sexual content, I could see where TBTN would be concerned…Ultimately, I think it’s good that JT addressed it, douchiness notwithstanding.
You’re welcome, TOK!
Can you imagine if copyright law was what some people assume it to be? We’d have boring songs filled with pronouns! 😉
I’m starting to think this is generational. People who feel like knowing of this organization is common sense, are you perhaps Gen X?
Try and remember that after whitney houston died, ‘who is whitney houston’ trended on twitter. So has ‘who is Paul McCartney’ after a tv performance of his. Perhaps that will add some perspective. That’s not to say gen y are all idiots. Just, one generations ‘given’ information is not necessarily the next generations ‘given’ information. I wouldnt get too worked up over it, unless you want to have something in common with the boomers.
Kaiser, “let the groove get in” is pretty good for a workout.
His album is not half bad actually. there are a couple songs i love but i can’t stand JT. He’s such a douche.
I have to admit that I forgot about Take Back The Night until people reported that it was a rape crisis organization. I’ve heard of groups like RAINN more often. I think Justin is being unfairly attacked to a certain degree. I don’t know what the process is for naming songs. But if song titles have to be approved I wonder why nobody new about the group.
JACKASS.
Nonsense! These people aren’t releasing songs and recordings by a big name artist without parsing each and every bit of lyric to see if there is a conflict or a potential legal problem. If JT didn’t personally know to begin with (doubtful), then someone working with him knew soon enough.
More likely is that he decided he really liked the title, didn’t want to change it, and figured since it didn’t involve some mega-sized corporate enterprise they probably wouldn’t do anything about it.
“These people aren’t releasing songs and recordings by a big name artist without parsing each and every bit of lyric to see if there is a conflict or a potential legal problem.”
This is completely inaccurate.
I’m not clear as to why you say what I’ve written is “inaccurate”. What’s your basis for that?
Timberlake is with RCA at the moment. RCA has a big legal dept. that reviews all their releases. Timberlake may have some sort of contractual agreement for having the final word since he has a big name, but that still wouldn’t mean that a whole host of people hadn’t reviewed the content of this album prior to its’ release. For him to be telling the truth here you would have to conclude that all of these people missed that the title of his song was the same as the name of this women’s organization. I can’t figure how anyone could be buying that.
My basis is my experience.
The legal department would flag things that would have a legitimate legal conflict. This does not.
Copyright law doesn’t apply across every field. When you copyright something, you have to categorize it. An example I have used before is if a cleaning product and a charity had the same name. No conflict, because they both would have registered in their respective fields: cleaning supplies, household items, etc vs. charity organizations, see?
Another example is Blue Ivy Carter. Beyonce got the copyright for baby related items, which made it so that she couldn’t sue the wedding planning company of the same name (which had also been in business for a while). Baby goods vs. wedding planning isn’t a conflict, see?
In addition, song titles are one of the last aspects to be added to an album. The legal department is far more focused on agreements between writers, producers, etc. in respect to advances, publishing and royalties. Also, song titles aren’t something that is owned, there are many songs that share titles. The legal department wouldn’t waste time on the song titles because they know that isn’t a vulnerability legally. They would be more concerned with lyric/melody plagiarism.
Actually, your explanation makes no sense at all, and is so inaccurate I’m not sure where to even begin. I also noticed your comment above, which goes along the same lines; the theory that ‘if they’re not both songs (or the same product) it doesn’t matter’. Totally untrue. It also would seem to completely miss the point of what’s going on here with Timberlake. However, this isn’t the place to attempt legal arguments and so I’ll leave it at saying you’re entitled to your opinion, as long as it’s framed as an opinion and little more 🙂 Good luck.
To be fair to him , it’s quite possible he’s never heard about a lot of things. Sounds get muffled when your head’s that far up your own ass.
Standing Ovation! Thank you!!
I picked up on this the second I heard the name of the song – I’m from Australia, so it’s definitely not a US only movement. You would think that most big artists would at least google their potential song title to see if any other major artists have a song with the same name. And the first thing that comes up when you google Take Back The Night is their official website.
Complete failure on the part of his label – they’re supposed to vet this stuff.
Timberdouche doesn’t get a pass either, his “you should be grateful” response is BS.
They should be grateful, Take Back the Night hasn’t been relevant since the 90s. RAINN has far surpassed it. They should be happy for this free publicity.
Hey guess what Jen? I obeyed the law today and didn’t steal your identity! You should be grateful!
It’s a copyright, he needs to pay them or change the name.
+1 Mia!
Jen: They still have a right to protect their intellectual property. Whether they are “relevant” in YOUR eyes is irrelevant in the eyes of the law. They own the mark, they use it. His label was sloppy, period. Why should they be grateful for the incompetence of others?
“It’s a copyright, he needs to pay them or change the name.”
That’s not how copyrights work. They have to be like items. When you copyright something, it is within a genre. Clothing, cleaning supplies, charities, music, etc.
You can have a cleaning supply and a charity named they same thing…they do not compete with each other and they will not be confused as the same thing. The same applies to songs and charity organizations.
… much like how Rosa Parks should’ve been flattered that Outkast named a song after her?
IMO, if a person/organization worked hard for a particular cause/social issue, they have the right to maintain the integrity that they earned through hard work.
TS to Timberlake and his crew for not using Google. Seems to me more effort was put for in the statement than in doing their due dilligence and even that statement was craptastic.
I’m from Toronto and we have it here.
i never heard of it until they had it on beverly hills 90210
it’s a college campus thing isnt it? disney kids dont go there.
Yes, it is a college campus thing, but they often march through the streets surrounding campuses, so anyone who has lived near a campus (which is most people in LA or NYC) has probably seen them.
I live in NYC (have for almost ten years) and I’ve never seen this group anywhere, and I used to work right in the heart of NYU territory!
I agree with everyone that it’s kind of surprising that his label didn’t vet the title, but I don’t think it’s surprising at all that he’s never heard of the group. I’m not sure why people think that’s so shocking, to be honest. Maybe this whole mess will teach him something about issues of violence against women. Who knows? There could be a few positive results from all this.
He’s douchey and all, but I’m just not seeing a reason for outrage here.
I’ve lived a long time, am very aware of many organizations, and have never heard of TBRN. Not a JT fan by any means, don’t really even know his music. I didn’t go to college, but have always read extensively, newspapers, mags, all kinds of books. Never heard of it.
It’s called Google. He should try it.
But if I can’t look to Justin Timberlake and his crew for empowering images of women, where will I turn?? No, seriously, I am astonished at the longevity of this fool’s career.
I don’t know why is this such a big problem. He wanted to name his song this way, so what? He didn’t name it “I wanna drink coca-cola-pepsi from your sony-panasonic vag”. But maybe I don’t understand it because I’m from Europe and I’ve never heard about this organization.
same here.
“Take back the night” sounds like a normal song title to me. Club-dancing-stuff. He makes songs. That´s all. So i don´t see the problem.
I live in Europe, so i´ve never heard of this organisation. Timerlake has no normal life (tours etc.), you cannot expect him to know everything.
Just because I haven’t heard of a company from somewhere in Europe doesn’t mean I get to use their name. And honestly, I’m surprised at the number of Americans pleading ignorance of TBTN. But that’s okay they don’t know – they don’t have a record label’s legal team who failed to do due diligence.
Or more likely, they did, and JT didn’t care.
I’m from the UK, graduated in 2005 and I’ve heard of the organisation and seen events advertised. Evidently lots of people haven’t encountered it but it isn’t just a US thing. The organisation is sizable enough that it surprises me that no-one involved had heard of it.
“Just because I haven’t heard of a company from somewhere in Europe doesn’t mean I get to use their name”
Just because a charity exists doesn’t mean a song can’t have the same name.
Copyright applies only to like items, there is no legal conflict here. If he borrowed lyrics or melody, he would be in violation of the law. If he created another charity with the same name, that would violate the law.
Whenever I hear an old-school JT song on the radio, like “Cry Me a River,” I think about how far he has fallen. “Suit and Tie” is just awful. I have to change the station immediately whenever it comes on. I haven’t heard any of the other songs from his album, or maybe I just think “WTF is this crap?” and change the station when one comes on.
Never heard of it even when I went to college years ago or anywhere else. Not until this thing blew up. Still if we start copyrighting every phrase, title etc we’d run out of songs and lyrics given how many repeat everything.
RUH ROH.
There a lot of people who have never heard of take back the night. The only reason I knew about it is because I had a teacher in hs who was involved in the organization. He could just change the title of the song or donate some money to the cause.
I think that he is lying. “Take Back the Night” is too huge for an American man of his generation not to have heard of it. He did this on purpose.
This is a man who thinks it’s great to make fun of homeless people. Doing this on purpose is completely his m.o. If he donates all proceeds from the song to the organization, then I’ll change my mind. But I bet he won’t give them one thin dime.
Sorry. I’m in my mid-30’s, raised in NYC, I watched 90210 but I vaguely recall that episode and it’s only because people are referencing it now, and I didn’t even remember the name of the organization from that episode. So I’m not going to give him too much slack over it. *shrug*
Also Justin was more likely was watching Power Rangers and Animaniacs instead of 90210 around that time since he was about 12 when that episode aired.
All he needs to do is change a few letters, like “We take back the night” or “Taking Back the Night” and problem solved. I don’t see the big deal.
He is a self important moron. I can’t even believe that people are surprised that he didn’t know what TBTN is. Especially since his wife is as oblivious as he.
Judging by the comments, a large portion of people – college educated, American people, of his generation – have never heard of this foundation. I think it’s really not that much of a stretch to believe that perhaps no one on his team had either. Should someone have googled, sure. But they didn’t.
The foundation’s lawsuit will probably be dismissed. This whole “mess” HAS brought them further into the public eye, something that is a good thing considering their cause. All in all, a coincidence with a happy ending.
I refuse to view this as some huge scandal and, like JT or not, the demonizing going on over this is ridiculous.
It doesn’t matter whether he’s heard of the organization on not, his statement after learning of the problem tells us all we need to know about him. He could have reworked the song if he gave a shit about anyone but himself.
I believe we’re in a new era of information, and this type of thing doesn’t work anymore.
Now we have these pop stars writing anthems that perpetuate the worst aspects of humanity. This is nothing new, but with warp drive communication, culture hopefully improves.
He doesn’t really seem to care. That’s the telling part.
After watching Juror B37 speak my tolerance for ignorance is at an all time low. There is no reason for someone with as much privilege and access as he has to not do some form of research himself. It really only takes a five second Google search to see that this is the name of a known organization and that might cause a problem. It appears the group is not suing though.
And OF COURSE he had to ultimately make it about him! He had to make it seem like they would benefit from the publicity since you know, he now knows of their existence. Listen asshole: Just because YOU haven’t heard of it, doesn’t mean the rest of the world was in the dark. For every commenter that said they haven’t heard of TBTN, there were others who had and had known about them for several years. I am in the latter group. I don’t see how they can benefit in the long run from Justin Timberlake titling one of his songs with the same title.
Take Back the Night has a large presence in Canada. We march with banners and candles taking back the streets so women can walk without fear of being threatened abused or violated.