The family of Marvin Gaye has rejected a six-figure settlement offer from Robin Thicke.
Sources with knowledge of the lawsuit told Billboard that the settlement offer came after Marvin III, Frankie Christian, and Nona Marvisa Gaye accused Thicke of stealing his hit single “Blurred Lines” from Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.”
In response, Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and Clifford “T.I.” Harris, Jr. filed a lawsuit requesting a ruling that the song does not infringe on “Got To Give It Up.” The trio was also accused of stealing from Funkadelic’s song “Sexy Ways.”
The lawsuit states, “Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists.”
In an interview with GQ in May, Thicke said he told Pharrell that “Got To Give It Up” was once of his favorite songs.
“I was like, ‘Damn, we should make something like that, something with that groove.’ Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about a half hour and recorded it,” Thicke said. “The whole thing was done in a couple hours—normally, those are the best ones.”
The lawsuit also said that the the “intent in producing “Blurred Lines” was to evoke an era.”
But the Gaye family did not feel the same way .
“We’re all fans of Robin Thicke’s, as well as he’s a fan of my father’s. Our point is that there’s a way to do business and a way not to do business,” Marvin Gaye III said. “We’re not happy with the way he went about doing the business, let alone suing us over something where he clearly got his inspiration from at the least.”
He went on to say that he was just trying to protect his father’s legacy. He also said Robin Thicke wouldn’t need to be protected if he didn’t do anything wrong.
[Photo credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com ]
