Officials of LazyTown tried to stop a video that is now circulating online
“We tried to stop this four times and our legal department sent Youtube a letter. Usually it’s no problem to stop something like this before it starts to spread on the internet, but in this case it was spread too far,” says Hlynur Sigurðsson, LazyTown’s information representative, about a video that is now spreading like wildfire through the internet.
In it you can see a song from LazyTown mixed with a song by the American rapper Lil Jon, and both the soundtrack and videos from LazyTown and the video of the rapper’s song are spliced together. The song in question is originally from rapper Snoop Dogg’s album called “Step Yo Game Up” where Lil Jon raps most of it. This is not an amateur video, but it is obvious that professionals have been involved in both the making of the video and the soundtrack.
“Lil Jon is obviously very popular so it went viral. In itself, this is rather distasteful, and not something we want,” says Hlynur, and it is clear that many people have seen the video, as LazyTown has received considerable feedback because of it.
“When we first had it closed, we received quite a few letters from teenagers denouncing that we should close it. There has been an age group that was somewhere in between, still liked LazyTown but fell into this rap culture as well,” says Hlynur, and it is therefore clear that LazyTown has received some positive attention because of the video. “However, this is by no means what we want, and is purely a distortion of the brand.”
Registered trademark
When asked, Hlynur says that the video was only removed from YouTube for a few days, but then it found its way back there. “It was spread to some sites that are not related to YouTube, and is almost impossible to stop, especially when it spreads widely. And that meant that the next day it was back on Youtube, those who have these sites have simply uploaded it there again,” explains Hlynur.
“But we have done everything in our power to close this, we believe it is a distortion of our brand, as this is not what we want. LazyTown is a registered trademark and we will protect it with all available means.”
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