Miley Cyrus in a still from “We Can’t Stop.” Photo courtesy of Youtube.
Summary: Miley Cyrus was hit with a $300 million lawsuit from a reggae singer.
In 2013, Miley Cyrus sang, “It’s our party we can do what we want,” but there’s one artist who just wants the pop star’s party to stop…And for her to hand over $300 million.
According to Us Weekly, Cyrus was slammed with a $300 million lawsuit on Tuesday, March 13. In the suit, Jamaican songwriter Michael “Flourgon” May said Cyrus’ song stole elements from his song, “We Run Things.”
The copyright infringement lawsuit was filed because May said Cyrus’ hit took at least 50% of his song, which he claimed was a “favorite for lovers of reggae music worldwide.”
May said that in Jamaica, his home country, the song hit Number One on the charts in 1988.
“We Can’t Stop” by Cyrus peaked at Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 List in 2013.
Cyrus is credited on “We Can’t Stop” as a songwriter along with Mike “Mike Will Made It” Williams, Pierre “P-Nasty” Slaughter, Theron and Timothy Thomas (a.k.a. Rock City), Douglas “Doug E. Fresh” Davis and Ricky “Slick Rick” Walters.
May said that the Cyrus tune stole his lyrics and music arrangement. For example, his song stated, “We run things / Things no run we,” and Cyrus’ song sang, “We run things / Things don’t run we.”
May is seeking $300 million and that the Cyrus song be halted from sales and performances.
“May was the first to construct such a sequence using the phrase “We run things. Things no run we” and was the first musical artist to convey this unique, creative and original lyrical phrase/sequence into musical arrangement,” May’s lawyers stated in the lawsuit.
In his court documents, May requested a trial by jury. He named Cyrus and her record label RCA as defendants, according to Reuters.
May said that last year he sought a formal copyright for the arrangements in “We Run Things” and he said that he was granted those protections.
“[Cyrus] owes the basis of its chart-topping popularity to and its highly-lucrative success to plaintiff May’s protected, unique, creative and original content,” May’s lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan, said.
Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop” was a hit from her album “Bangerz,” which was an edgy departure from her previous music and image as the Disney star Hannah Montana. Cyrus is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, and she previously performed country songs as well as Disney pop tunes.
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