A bum rap for Peru tourists
A Jamaican artist has filed a $300 million lawsuit (about R3.6 billion) against pop star Miley Cyrus, pictured, over her 2013 hit We Can’t Stop, saying a key lyric was snatched from him.
On the track about exploring sexual and other personal freedom, Cyrus sings, “And we can’t stop / We run things, things don’t run we / Don’t take nothing from nobody”.
Flourgon, a Jamaican dancehall artist who enjoyed hits in the 1980s and 1990s, said the turn of phrase was taken from his 1988 song We Run Things, whose lyrics include, “We run things / Things no run we”.
Flourgon, whose real name is Michael May, is seeking $300 million from Cyrus, her label Sony Music and her team of songwriters and musicians – a highly ambitious sum that is more than the pop star’s estimated net worth.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in a federal court in New York, said the lyrics belonged “distinctly” to Flourgon with “roots in Jamaican Patois with its own unique phraseology and linguistic combinations that, when translated into English, is not grammatically correct”.
Flourgon said Cyrus built her career off the single, noting that it came out around the time that the former star of the Disney series Hannah Montana was adopting an edgier, more sexualised public persona.
Cyrus “dramatically changed her style of dress and personal vocalisations to reflect the grittiness, aggression and sultriness associated with US-based hip-hop, R&B, urban and Caribbean music”, the lawsuit said.
The 25-year-old singer did not immediately respond to the lawsuit, which also seeks to prevent her from further performances of We Can’t Stop.
The pop starlet has faced accusations in the past of appropriating black culture, especially when she twerked her behind against singer Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2013.
We Can’t Stop coincidentally only reached number two on the US singles chart because it was held back by Thicke’s Blurred Lines. – AFP
– Three European tourists were banished from the Incan citadel Machu Picchu in Peru after taking photos of themselves exposing their backsides, police said this week.
The visitors – a 21-yearold from Germany, a 24-year-old from Switzerland and a 26-year-old from the Netherlands – were expelled from the site on Tuesday, according to authorities.
“The three tourists dropped their pants to show their buttocks and took photos,” said a police official Martin Flores. “That is not allowed ... in accordance with internal rules in place there, the three tourists were expelled, but they were not detained.” – AFP