Case Study: The Gallagher Brothers Go to Court - Against Each Other
Liam and Noel Gallagher are still brothers. That's about all the two rock stars and founders of Oasis agree on.
You have to do something spectacularly bad to make news as a Rock Star Behaving Badly.
Trashing your hotel room doesn't even register. Biting the head off a bat? That's been done. Groupies, industrial amounts of cocaine, insane contract riders requiring green M & M with the M's facing down -- those won't get break through and get you ink.
The press and public expects rock stars to be, well, rock stars.
A civil lawsuit is the last thing you'd guess two rockers would do to destroy their public image.
But these aren't normal rockers. And this isn't a normal lawsuit.
It's a massive, epic, world-class public relations failure.
Regular people can understand suing somebody if they smash into your car and leave you paralyzed. They can accept you filing a lawsuit when a giant corporation poisons your well.
The press and public will even accept family members filing suit against each other if there is no other alternative and the stakes are high. Maybe one brother took care of the other's daughter for years while he went through rehab and got clean, and now he wants custody again. You could understand that sort of thing.
Two brothers going to court to divide a family empire -- or the royalties of a rock band's album sales -- that's another reason the press and public might buy for going to court. When millions of dollars are at stake, OK, having lawyers involved might make things fair.
Yet the Gallagher brothers aren't headed for the courthouse for anything like that.
Liam is suing Noel ... because his feelings are hurt.
He wants an apology.
The specifics -- not that they truly matter at this point -- regard the cancellation of a 2009 concert and the breakup of the band. Noel later said that they cancelled because his brother had a terrible hangover. Liam says he had laryngitis.
So now The Guardian reports that Liam filed suit to get an apology, and to clear up why exactly the band broke up.
Liam claims that Noel falsely says the band broke up because of some kind of dispute over Liam's clothing line promotion in the tour material for Oasis.
If either brother wanted to be taken seriously -- by music fans, producers, possible band mates and record company executives -- this PR disaster will sting for a long time.
You don't take your brother to court to ask for an apology.
In fact, no public figure should take anyone, brother or not, to court for an apology.
Pick up the phone. Talk it out.
Let's say Liam gets what he wants. This actually goes to trial. Their dirty sibling laundry gets aired out for weeks, with the press and tabloids eating up every juicy detail.
Let's say Liam wins the trial. Does the learned judge play mom and say, "Noel, tell your brother your sorry" -- is that victory?
This is beyond silly.
It's embarrassing, not only a failure for the Gallagher brothers, but a disaster for the attorneys who didn't find a way to keep this from happening and whatever media and PR advisors the brothers have, who should have jumped up and down and threatened to quit if this went any further and hit the press.
You have to do something spectacularly bad to make news as a Rock Star Behaving Badly.
Trashing your hotel room doesn't even register. Biting the head off a bat? That's been done. Groupies, industrial amounts of cocaine, insane contract riders requiring green M & M with the M's facing down -- those won't get break through and get you ink.
The press and public expects rock stars to be, well, rock stars.
A civil lawsuit is the last thing you'd guess two rockers would do to destroy their public image.
But these aren't normal rockers. And this isn't a normal lawsuit.
It's a massive, epic, world-class public relations failure.
Regular people can understand suing somebody if they smash into your car and leave you paralyzed. They can accept you filing a lawsuit when a giant corporation poisons your well.
The press and public will even accept family members filing suit against each other if there is no other alternative and the stakes are high. Maybe one brother took care of the other's daughter for years while he went through rehab and got clean, and now he wants custody again. You could understand that sort of thing.
Two brothers going to court to divide a family empire -- or the royalties of a rock band's album sales -- that's another reason the press and public might buy for going to court. When millions of dollars are at stake, OK, having lawyers involved might make things fair.
Yet the Gallagher brothers aren't headed for the courthouse for anything like that.
Liam is suing Noel ... because his feelings are hurt.
He wants an apology.
The specifics -- not that they truly matter at this point -- regard the cancellation of a 2009 concert and the breakup of the band. Noel later said that they cancelled because his brother had a terrible hangover. Liam says he had laryngitis.
So now The Guardian reports that Liam filed suit to get an apology, and to clear up why exactly the band broke up.
Liam claims that Noel falsely says the band broke up because of some kind of dispute over Liam's clothing line promotion in the tour material for Oasis.
If either brother wanted to be taken seriously -- by music fans, producers, possible band mates and record company executives -- this PR disaster will sting for a long time.
You don't take your brother to court to ask for an apology.
In fact, no public figure should take anyone, brother or not, to court for an apology.
Pick up the phone. Talk it out.
Let's say Liam gets what he wants. This actually goes to trial. Their dirty sibling laundry gets aired out for weeks, with the press and tabloids eating up every juicy detail.
Let's say Liam wins the trial. Does the learned judge play mom and say, "Noel, tell your brother your sorry" -- is that victory?
This is beyond silly.
It's embarrassing, not only a failure for the Gallagher brothers, but a disaster for the attorneys who didn't find a way to keep this from happening and whatever media and PR advisors the brothers have, who should have jumped up and down and threatened to quit if this went any further and hit the press.
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