Luther Campbell Says Only One Thing Come to Mind for Star Wars
Luther Campbell Says Only One Thing Comes to Mind for Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell is not one to shy away from giving his opinion and he wants you to know how he feels about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “Every time I see a trailer, or an ad, for that movie,” he explains, “all I can think is I want that mother***** George Lucas to give me my money back.”
This sentiment of course is due to George Lucas suing Campbell back in 1990 for $300 million, charging him and his record company with, among other allegations, trademark infringement and unfair competition. Even though Luther is the rapper’s given name, he was known as Luke, with even his mother using the name. So it was only natural to Campbell for him to use the moniker “Luke Skywalker” in the early 80s taken as inspiration from New York Knicks star Kenny “Sky” Walker. Campbell also used the name for his label (Luke Skywalker) and its logo.

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As you cam imagine, this would not sit well with the Star Wars creator, who insists his lawyers informed Campbell as early as 1987 of the name being trademarked. Ultimately the suit was settled out-of-court for $300,000 and Campbell was forced to change both his alias (to Luke) and the name of his record label (to Luke Records).
“I respect the fact that people love the movie,” Campbell concedes. “George Lucas made a helluva movie and a brand. People love it. But he took nearly a half a million dollars from me.”
So what if Campbell’s kids wanted to watch the box office hit? “I tell my kids, don’t ever buy bootleg,” he says, “but if you really want to watch that movie, you can buy it bootleg.”