Zealous guardians of his words and his likeness, the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is demanding a share of the proceeds from the sudden wave of T-shirts, posters and other merchandise depicting the civil rights leader alongside Barack Obama.
Isaac Newton Farris Jr., King’s nephew and head of the nonprofit King Center in Atlanta, said the estate is entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees — maybe even millions.
“Some of this is probably putting food on people’s plates. We’re not trying to stop anybody from legitimately supporting themselves,” he said, “but we cannot allow our brand to be abused.”
You’ll recall the King kids sold the right to their father’s “I Have a Dream Speech” to Cingular in 2001.
(T)he money that Cingular and Alcatel are paying to use King’s image will not go to teach schoolchildren how to resolve their conflicts without guns, or to promote coalitions between Latinos and African-Americans, or to raise the wages of hard-working men and women barely making ends meet. The money will go into the greedy, grasping hands of King’s children.
(via Scott Henry)
Just because you got an semi-god as relative does not necessary mean that you are impeccable.