Frank Ocean, the R&B singer who tangled with the Eagles’ Don Henley last month over a sample of the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” isn’t finished talking about the situation. And it keeps getting funnier.
Writing on his Tumblr page, Ocean now reportedly says the Eagles are jealous of his work, intimating that a threatened lawsuit over copyright infringement is personal — not business: “Don Henley … is apparently intimidated by my rendition of ‘Hotel California.'”
Of course, Ocean has already made his share of unintentionally hilarious statements on the Internet, as this very public feud has continued, the best of which undoubtedly was: “Shit’s weird. Ain’t this guy rich as fuck? Why sue the new guy?”
The song in question is called “American Wedding,” which the Eagles say finds the Odd Future rapper lifting “the whole master track” from their original hit 1976 song. Ocean now says, again on his Tumblr page, that the Eagles have “threatened to sue if I perform it again.”
“American Wedding” was included on a free mixtape called Nostalgia. Ocean said that because he never sold the track, it could be seen as a way of paying tribute to the band: “I didn’t make a dime off that song,” Ocean said. “I released it for free. If anything I’m paying homage.”
An Eagles spokesman fired back in March: “This is not creative … it’s illegal.”
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I’m sure that Don Henley, a 40-year veteran of the business, is just shaking in his boots. I’m sure he’s REALLY intimidated by this newbie punk who hasn’t accomplished anything of significance except the theft of the master track of Hotel California. What is it with this new generation of so-called “artists?” Do they have any original thoughts? Do they really think that taking someone else’s (copyrighted) work and altering it – mixing it with their own crap – is equal to creating a “new” piece of art? Frank Ocean (ridiculous, phony name) has a lot to learn — about law, about respect, about creativity and about what it takes to make a lasting impact in music. Word on the street has it that he bombed big-time at Coachella.