2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell Not Letting Kids Watch 'Star Wars' Because George Lucas Sued Him

2 Live Crew frontman, Luther Campbell, is not allowing his children to see Star Wars because George Lucas sued him early on in his career. In 1985, around the time that 2 Live Crew first started playing together, Campbell DJ'd locally in Miami using the name "Luke Skywalker." While his name was not inspired by the character portrayed by Mark Hamill in the Star Wars trilogy, Lucas took offense to him using it as his DJ moniker.

When 2 Live Crew began to be taken notice of, particularly for their controversy-laden lyrics, Lucas's team became nervous about the use of the name "Luke Skywalker." One notable controversy involved their track "Me So Horny" from As Nasty As They Wanna Be, released in 1989. A year later, Lucasfilm brought a $300 million federal lawsuit against Campbell citing trademark infringement and unfair competition.

"Every time I see a trailer, or an ad, for that movie, all I can think is I want that motherf*cker George Lucas to give me my money back," Campbell said to Vulture.

He further said to the publication, "I asked them, 'Will this affect me?' I thought I wasn't doing anything to infringe on their copyright. My name is Luke Skywalker and I'm rapping about how I want some p*ssy. How can anyone say that is infringing on a character in a movie that doesn't feature any rap music?"

It's partially understandable why Lucas's camp may have been concerned. This past June, the anniversary of the arrest of 2 Live Crew's members in Florida for obscenity occurred. After the release of their third studio album, Nasty As They Wanna Be, a federal judge in Florida ruled that the tracks "Me So Horny," "D*ck Almighty" and "The F*ck Shop" were too obscene to be played. It was subsequently made illegal to play or sell it in certain counties and the group was banned from performing the songs. They were arrested soon after for playing their songs in a Florida sex club.

Tags
2 Live Crew, Star Wars
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