Pastor Shirley Caesar Is Suing The Original #UNameItChallenge Video Maker For $5 Million
She named it.
Remember the #UNameItChallenge? No? Read the explainer here. If you’re familiar with the social media dance craze that popped up around Thanksgiving, you’ll remember it started with a remix by DJ Suede of gospel singer Shirley Caesar’s sermon where she named a bunch of foods. Fast forward a few weeks, and the Grammy-winning singer and preacher has filed an injunction against DJ Suede to take down the original video.
Caesar’s legal team is alleging at least $5 million in losses occurred because of the video, and have named DJ Suede, Jullian Boothe and Empire Distribution. According to Caesar’s lead attorney, the judge assigned to the case agreed that the video should be taken down and that the uses of alcohol in the video “violate the brand, image and name of a Christian pastor.”
This isn’t the story of an out-of-touch old lady coming for hers, however. The Caesar family reportedly heard an initial remix of the video and loved it, but were not shown the one that ended up going viral (which featured alcohol prominently). She even recruited Snoop Dogg for a clean version and went on the Wendy Williams show to support the viral hit. Lead attorney Walker alleges Snoop Dogg “did his clean version to send the message that ‘this is Shirley Caesar’, we need to honor her.” Hard to go agains the Doggfather on this one.
Watch both the version at the center of the lawsuit (assuming it doesn’t get taken down) and the Snoop Dogg version below.
The unauthorized version.
The authorized Snoop Dogg version.
