Insane Clown Posse vs. a Juggalo parody: F**kin' fair use, how does it work?

From The Onion AV Club: "According to members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, the Insane Clown Posse forced the cancellation of a UCB show, after issuing a cease and desist and threatening legal action over Saturday’s scheduled “The Gathering Of The Juggalos For A Mother Fucking Baby Funeral” at the group’s New York theater." (thanks, Andrea James)

• [dheisel]

  Why hasn’t the new infomercial for the gathering been posted for BB’s amusement yet?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gKE67L97SA

• [Mister44]

  The sad, SAD thing is this really happened:

  !!! WARNING – IIRC There is a dead baby pic in there some where. Most of it is of the casket and funeral. !!!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMv9d1pIoBA

  From the description: “Insane Clown Posse themed funeral for baby who died. (most likely because the mother used drugs while pregnant) I have nothing against Juggalos, I think even they would be turned off by this.”

  I shit you not – an ICP decorated baby casket.

  Truth is stranger than fiction.

  Now – I admit I have the Great Malinko CD, and enjoy some of their songs. But Jesus Christ – some of their fans are just… bleh.

  • [mausium]

    Worse still was the parents’ pathetic attempt to get band merch out of the death of their drug-miscarried spawn.

    Since Encyclopedia Dramatica is down foreva-

    http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message994872/pg1

    “Ok… first of all, bitch didn’t know she was pregnant for 6 months, second she calls a radio station and tries to get free shit (t shirts, etc.) and blames the hospital… and FINALLY she has a JUGGALO THEMED FUNERAL! Oh, and she bitches about “merchandise”.”

• [knoxblox]

  Aww. I wish I could have seen that show. I’m sure the SNL skits seem pale in comparison to the UCB’s.

  How to defend yourself from angry Juggalos? A Poo Stick, of course. If that doesn’t work, maybe you could use your Cyberflex Machine Gun Arm.

  • [Felton / Moderator]

    How to defend yourself from angry Juggalos? A Poo Stick, of course. If that doesn’t work, maybe you could use your Cyberflex Machine Gun Arm.

    I hear they’re easily distracted by magnets.

    • [Mister44]

      That just makes them more confused and angry.

      • [KanedaJones]

        “That just makes them more confused and angry.”

        but.. They were already angry – to the max lawl

        and I agree with drivenbyboredom this was more than likely them just thinking it was in bad taste, and now that I have said that out loud I know how absurd it sounds but its true.

• [FatherMan]

  Satire…How does it work?

• [Daemon]

  If it pisses off ICP and/or their fans, it can’t be all bad.

• [frankieboy]

  my head hurts

  tell me Die Antwoord were pallbearers and it’s complete

• [GrymRpr]

  “vague threats of actual members of Juggalo Nation showing up to protest”

  vague?
  LoL… It’s almost a certainty that actual members of the Juggalo Nation would show up and if ” protest ” means a violent beat down of the Upright Citizens Brigade, then yes that would have happened.

  Hornets nests… how to they work?

• [grandmapucker]

  They’d have to take a road trip. NYC is one of the few cities I lived where I never saw a Juggalo in the wild.

  • [drivenbyboredom]

    Clearly you were not at the ICP Cruise on the East River…

    http://www.drivenbyboredom.com/2011/05/06/insane-clown-posse-cruise/

• [License Farm]

  Troll much, Anon? What’s with this “should love” jazz? You sound like a disgruntled marketer who never could crack the viral code to make some corporation money under the guise of “counterculture.” You wish this was about classism; it’s about a cult of unexceptionalism and a relinquishment of responsibility, aka, post-imperial America. What a sad thing to defend.

• [Mark Temporis]

  Yeah, I think actually using the performer’s names on the ad sort of crosses the parody line into giving people the impression the band was actually coming.

  This is one of those things where they should probably have used an expy or the like.

• [joshua krawczyk]

  I am the Uncle of Annabelle Krawczyk, I am disgusted and saddened by the continued carless thoughtless and painfull remarks still being made three years after the murder of my niece. No one knows how they will react to the Murder of a child or loved one so who is anyone of us to judge the way julie and Joseph grieved the tragic loss of who should be a beautifull little girl. Its sad that so many sheep have fallen victim to one persons youtube video and comments about the facts of Julies pregnancy and MURDER of Annabelle. I feel sad for you all who have hated on my family and I love appreciate and thank all of you who have sent your love and support.

• [optuser]

  I’m not an ICP fan or a copyright/trademark wonk, but just from a truth-in-advertising standpoint I think there is a problem if they had this title (“The Gathering Of The Juggalos For A Mother Fucking Baby Funeral”) out on a sign or marquee and were selling tickets for it. It would be like having a sign for “Mouseketeer Sex On Ice” or “Wiggles Wack Off.” Which I would pay money for, parody or no parody. I think it boils down to if they own a trademark for the term “Juggalo.”

  Alternative title suggestions:

  Not An ICP Baby Funeral

  Jug A Low Dissfest

  Faygo Is Flat, Yo’

• [drivenbyboredom]

  As a leading juggalo anthropologist I would like to point out that ICP has always gone out of their way to praise funny parodys such as the treatment SNL gave them. I am sure they felt this baby funeral party was crossing the line which even for wicked clowns is pretty understandable.

  • [Rhonan]

    The difference is that the SNL skit was attacking their act, and fell under the showbiz rubric of any publicity is good publicity. “The Gathering Of The Juggalos For A Mother Fucking Baby Funeral” goes straight to the fact that their fans are mostly pathetic losers. If ICP didn’t defend their fans from this, their fans might just figure out that ICP sees them as a bunch of pathetic losers to exploit.

    As for the poo stick, I think they would show a greater fear and revulsion to a bar of soap.

    • [knoxblox]

      “As for the poo stick, I think they would show a greater fear and revulsion to a bar of soap.”

      True, and they’d probably mistake the poo stick as a roasted hot dog on a stick.

• [gwailo_joe]

  my own response to any and all ICP related items is to cover ears with hands and go ‘Lalalalala’

  which is actually pretty ineffectual. . .so I’ll go look at pictures of rats and zeppelin harmonicas instead.

• [PathogenAntifreeze]

  No one has yet posted the most likely reason for the C&D: ICP’s actual, official annual camp-out show / party thing is titled “The Gathering of the Juggalos.” If UCB hadn’t used that exact phrase as part of the event title, there probably wouldn’t have been an issue. Plenty of parodies use the word Juggalo sans C&D activity.

• [Anonymous]

  Icp isn’t as hardcore as people think (do they really) they are a product for sale, and don’t stand for patent infringement!

• [KanedaJones]

  actually just looked at the poster for it and they literally claim that ICP would be there and they always had a problem with people misrepresenting them saying they are coming to a club when they aren’t and them then getting the flak for it.

  • [mausium]

    “they literally claim that ICP would be there and they always had a problem with people misrepresenting them saying they are coming to a club when they aren’t and them then getting the flak for it.”

    Hah! Hip hop clubs seem to do that all the time, people who go for those reasons deserve what they get.

• [Anonymous]

  I do find how often people dive into thinly disguised classism when Juggalo’s are mentioned, often the same people railing against the Man, more than a little interesting.

  It’s also interesting in that it’s like the Justin Bieber thing. Here’s a thing that the internet peoples should love (act gain success from youtube popularity/Independent label supporting itself entirely outside of mainstream distribution and media) only it’s not about the internet people but rather people internet people hate (Teenage Girls/Actual non-idealised lower middle class types). So they are filled with contempt and anger!