JOHN WATERS - WATERS SUED OVER CHRISTMAS SONG

WATERS SUED OVER CHRISTMAS SONG

Director JOHN WATERS is facing legal action after a Grammy-winning songwriter accused him of hijacking a Christmas carol.
Theodore 'Teddy' Vann alleges Waters added his jingle Santa Claus is a Black Man to a holiday compilation, despite rejecting Waters' initial request to use the tune.
Waters used the song on A John Waters Christmas, released in 2006.
In the claim, filed in New York's Brooklyn Federal Court, Vann says the Hairspray director caused further damage when he ridiculed the song in interviews, calling it "crackpot carol" and a "Christmas lunatic song".
Vann is seeking unspecified monetary damages in the case.
His lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, tells the New York Daily News, "Mr. Waters is going to be forced to come to Brooklyn and explain to a jury how he stole the song. You can't just steal someone's song because you have power and money."
A spokesman for Time Warner, the parent company of New Line Records, which released the album, had no immediate comment.