The war between Ice Cube and financial services app Robinhood is raging on, now that the company is hitting back at the rap star’s claims they stole his image.
Cube sued Robinhood after they used his image in one of their newsletters, called “Robinhood Snacks” in a mailing called “Why are tech stock falling?” on March 8, 2021.
Cube says the company used his picture and flipped a line from his hit song “Check Yo Self” which read: “Correct yourself, before you wreck yourself”
The rapper was mad because he has no ties to Robinhood, and he felt the company’s users would be misled into thinking he was endorsing the company, which he doesn’t.
So he filed a lawsuit on March 31st and decided to take Robinhood to court, to prevent the business from exploiting his, or the images of other famous rappers, like Jay-Z and Nas.
Last week, Robinhood replied to Ice Cube and denied he had any grounds to sue, claiming their newsletter is protected by the First Amendment. Furthermore, Robinhood’s lawyer says the rap star doesn’t even own the right to the photo in question.
“He conveniently leaves out that the photograph is actually a still shot which depicts his character from the movie, ‘Are We Done Yet’ – copyrighted work he does not own,” explained Robinhood’s lawyer, Mitchell J. Langberg.
“Remarkably, [Ice Cube] does not identify a single lost sale or other particular damage resulting from Defendants’ alleged misconduct, despite the fact that he is required to do so to establish standing under both federal and state law,” Langberg further stated.
Robinhood also blasted Ice Cube for claiming they stole the phrase “Check Yo Self, Before You Wreck Yo Self,” maintaining the phrase is now in the public domain for anyone to use.
“Because of its widespread use, they been used in numerous parody variations, the phrase does not and cannot identify any one individual, including [Ice Cube]. A simple online search of the phrase shows just how ubiquitous the phrase has become. The phrase is used in scholarly articles,19 popular movies [and] online blogs,” Mitchell J. Langberg said.
Langberg also said the phrase has already been parodied in such variations as “Text Yo’self Beefo You Wreck Yo’self,” “Stretch Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself,” and “Czech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself.”
“In short, Ice Cube filed this action looking for publicity and without regard for the merits of his claims,” Langberg said.
Robinhood wants the entire lawsuit to be dismissed on June 3, when Judge Laurel Beeler will listen to more arguments from both sides.