Lady A, Previously Lady Antebellum, Is Suing Black Blues Singer Anita White for Usage of “Lady A”
Lady Antebellum (aka Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and David Haywood) recently changed their band name to Lady A because of the previous name’s connection to slavery.
They’re now suing Black blues singer Anita White for also performing as Lady A, which she has used for more than 20 years.
Remember last month when country trio Lady Antebellum announced they’d be changing their name to Lady A over associations that their original name had to 18th-century American slavery? Band members Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and David Haywood made this a Very Big Deal™ because they wanted to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter and do better as a band, and for a while, everyone believed it. But now, Lady A has filed a lawsuit against Seattle blues singer Anita White—a Black woman who has performed as Lady A for more than 20 years—for using the name. You really cannot make this up.
Court documents, obtained by Pitchfork, state that the new Lady A is asking the Nashville court system to give them rights to trademark the new name. (To be clear, they aren’t asking for financial compensation, and they aren’t trying to stop Anita White from performing as Lady A.) The band alleges they tried to reach a mutual agreement with Anita, but she requested a $10 million payment. Unable to reach an agreement, they decided to take the issue to court.
According to the suit, “White did not challenge, in any way, Plaintiff’s open, obvious, and widespread nationwide and international use of the LADY A mark as a source indicator for Plaintiff’s recorded, downloadable, and streaming music and videos, Plaintiff’s live musical performances, or Plaintiff’s sale of souvenir merchandise.” A simple Spotify search shows that Anita has been using the name Lady A on her recorded music as far back as 2010, so something obviously doesn’t add up here.
The band’s publicist said in a statement on June 16 that “they have agreed that both should continue to move forward as Lady A.” Meanwhile, Anita has a different story to tell. Also on June 16, she told Newsday that the band jumped the gun by putting out a statement. “I’m not happy about [it] yet again after talking in good faith….Their camp is trying to erase me and I’ll have more to say tomorrow. Trust is important, and I no longer trust them.”
Naturally, people are unhappy that the band is suing Anita when the entire point of their name change was to stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
Let me understand...they changed their name from Lady Antebellum because they didn't want to associate with the racist past to a name that a BLACK woman in the music biz was already using...now they are suing HER for not wanting to relinquish the name? 🤔https://t.co/owmSK5Xuny
— Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) July 9, 2020
Lady Antebellum changing their name to Lady A to show solidarity with BLM only to SUE AN ACTUAL BLACK ARTIST who already has that name is performative wokeness at its BLEAKEST
— darrell (@billybones709) July 8, 2020
So Lady Antebellum changed their name so they could be on the right side of the conversation with race and they turn around and sue Lady A, a Black Woman, who has actually been using that name for quite some time so that they can use her name? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
— Lynn V (@lynnv378) July 9, 2020
Read Lady A’s full statement below:
“Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended. She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years. It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blind spots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by.
“When we learned that Ms. White had also been performing under the name Lady A, we had heartfelt discussions with her about how we can all come together and make something special and beautiful out of this moment. We never even entertained the idea that she shouldn’t also be able to use the name Lady A, and never will—today’s action doesn’t change that. Instead, we shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed, and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We felt we had been brought together for a reason and saw this as living out the calling that brought us to make this change in the first place.
“We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to work together with Anita for that greater purpose. We’re still committed to educating ourselves, our children, and doing our part to fight for the racial justice so desperately needed in our country and around the world. We’ve only taken the first small steps and will prioritize racial equality as a key pillar of the work of LadyAID, specifically leaning into supporting and empowering our youth. We hope Anita and the advisers she is now listening to will change their minds about their approach. We can do so much more together than in this dispute.”
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