Lady GaGa has threatened to sue the owners of an ice cream parlor in London for producing a flavor made from human breast milk, titled Baby GaGa. Attorneys representing the singer have sent a legal letter to bosses at Icecreamists in the U.K. capital's Covent Garden warning them to change the name of the bizarre concoction.
In the document, GaGa's lawyers accuse store owner Matt O'Connor of riding on the pop star's "coattails" to promote a product which is "deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing." The letter adds, "The references you are making to Lady GaGa are thus clearly deliberate and intended to take advantage of her reputation and good will... Associating the Lady GaGa mark with a food product which may be unsafe for human consumption (owing to the risk of it carrying such viruses as hepatitis) is also highly detrimental."
However, O'Connor insists he has been unfairly targeted, calling the legal threat "preposterous and outrageous". He tells Britain's Evening Standard, "We think this is very unnecessary, the whole thing will be over by next week, but we are prepared to fight this in court... This is a David versus Goliath battle I'm convinced we will eventually win. The world's biggest superstar has taken umbrage with the world's smallest ice-cream parlor. For Lady GaGa to accuse us of stealing her image is laughable when you consider how much she has borrowed from popular culture to create her look and music. She also seems to have forgotten that since the dawn of time the word gaga has been one of the first discernible phrases to come from a baby's mouth. This is why we chose the name.
He adds, "As for her assertion that our product is distasteful, perhaps she should reflect on her blood-spurting performance at the MTV Video MusicAwards , or the fact she wears clothes fabricated from the flesh of dead animals. We have applied to register the trademark Baby GaGa and are confident we'll secure this."
In the document, GaGa's lawyers accuse store owner Matt O'Connor of riding on the pop star's "coattails" to promote a product which is "deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing." The letter adds, "The references you are making to Lady GaGa are thus clearly deliberate and intended to take advantage of her reputation and good will... Associating the Lady GaGa mark with a food product which may be unsafe for human consumption (owing to the risk of it carrying such viruses as hepatitis) is also highly detrimental."
However, O'Connor insists he has been unfairly targeted, calling the legal threat "preposterous and outrageous". He tells Britain's Evening Standard, "We think this is very unnecessary, the whole thing will be over by next week, but we are prepared to fight this in court... This is a David versus Goliath battle I'm convinced we will eventually win. The world's biggest superstar has taken umbrage with the world's smallest ice-cream parlor. For Lady GaGa to accuse us of stealing her image is laughable when you consider how much she has borrowed from popular culture to create her look and music. She also seems to have forgotten that since the dawn of time the word gaga has been one of the first discernible phrases to come from a baby's mouth. This is why we chose the name.
He adds, "As for her assertion that our product is distasteful, perhaps she should reflect on her blood-spurting performance at the MTV Video Music