Australian breakdancer Rachel 'Raygan' Gunn has remained silent about why she and her lawyers blocked a comedian's attempt to pay musical homage to her now-legendary Paris Olympics moves. Broke it.
in A video posted on Instagram on Friday, Ms Regan revealed she had trademarked her name and “famous kangaroo silhouette pose” to prevent third parties from stealing her fame for commercial purposes.
“Yes, I have trademarked my name and the now famous kangaroo silhouette pose, which is used on almost every ray gun product out there, and by the way, I have trademarked it. We’re not making a profit,” Gunn said.
“And the reason we did that is because we were informed that there were applications from other parties seeking to trademark my name and image for commercial purposes. So, it's completely wild.” added Gunn.
Comedian Stephanie Broadbridge was scheduled to perform in Sydney tomorrow to pay tribute to Ray Gunn, but Gunn's lawyers have written to the venue threatening legal action.
Broadbridge said Gunn's lawyers said the show could damage their client's “brand.”
Gunn said on Instagram that he has trademarked his name and the kangaroo pose, but does not claim rights to the kangaroo dance.
“This is in no way an imitation of an Aboriginal dance,” she said, adding that the moves were inspired by BK the boxing kangaroo, Australia's Olympic mascot.
“I wanted to express and celebrate that spirit,” Gunn insisted.
The breakdancer, who is also an academic, said she and her team were “blindsided” by the Broadbridge musical.
AP
“We first heard about this last Friday in the Sydney Morning Herald and Channel 7,” Mr Gunn said.
“We were completely blindsided by this, and unfortunately the backlash was swift,” Gunn continued. People assumed we developed it and we approved of it, and it hurt many relationships, both personal and professional. This is why my management and legal team had to scramble to cancel the musical. It was really unfortunate that the show was canceled right before the launch. The artist would have put a lot of effort into it, but it's really bad. If I had known sooner, the outcome might have been different. ”
“So not being able to take a joke is not the issue here,” the Olympian insisted.
Gunn shot to fame in Paris with his incredible breakdancing performance, which caused some laughter and backlash.
She said she was offered “a lot of money” to appear on the reality show, but “I don't think about that.”
“Also, remember, there is a family and a friend behind all of this, someone that no one even told us about until a few months ago,” she said.
“I'm really just trying to do my best to navigate this new chapter of my life.”
