Why Rick Astley Is Suing Rapper Yung Gravy

The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this past week.

Young rapper Yung Gravy is staring down the barrel of a new lawsuit filed by Rick Astley this week.

The ever-viral singer says that Yung Gravy, whose real name is Matthew Hauri, ripped off his hit "Never Gonna Give You Up" without obtaining the proper permissions.

According to Reuters, the complaint over Yung Gravy's 2022 song "Betty (Get Money)" was filed this past Thursday, Jan. 26 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Astley claims that the track violates his right of publicity—or the right to control how his own name and likeness is used commercially—according to the publication, since it featured vocals from the singer Popnick, who impersonated Astley in a rerecorded version of his song so well that listeners thought it was actually him.

"In an effort to capitalize off of the immense popularity and goodwill of Mr. Astley, defendants...conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley's voice," Reuters quoted the court documents. "The public could not tell the difference."

As a result, Astley is reportedly seeking "millions of dollars" in damages in addition to a cut of the profits from "Betty."

According to Billboard, the rapper is said to have gone through the proper channels to secure the rights to interpolate the composition—or recreate parts of the music and lyrics—from the original song, which Astley doesn't own. They did not, however, license the use of the actual song—otherwise known as sampling—meaning they weren't permitted to directly copy the original track, including the singer's voice.

To try to skirt around that, Astley asserts they hired Popnick, whose real name is Nick Seeley, to imitate his “signature voice,” even referencing an Instagram video where Seeley apparently said he was aiming to "sound identical" to Astley.

The filing also called back to a 1988 suit where Bette Midler won against Ford for licensing her song "Do You Want to Dance" for a commercial and then using an impersonator, instead.

Astley's lawyer, Richard Busch, represented Marvin Gaye's family against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams when they alleged the duo copied "Got to Give It Up" for "Blurred Lines," which resulted in a $5 million win for his estate.

“Mr. Astley owns his voice," Busch said in an email to Reuters. "California law is clear...that nobody has the right to imitate or use it in a new sound recording without his permission, or pass it off as if he did approve the use."