Beyoncé disputes Right Said Fred's sample claims

Beyoncé: Right Said Fred’s ‘Sexy’ claims are ‘erroneous and incredibly disparaging’

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Oct. 7, 2022 1:59 PM PT

Beyoncé is caught in a classic she said, Right Said Fred said.

Days after the group claimed the 28-time Grammy winner never approached them for clearance to interpolate their hit “I’m Too Sexy” for her 2022 track “Alien Superstar,” Beyoncé is calling their claim “erroneous and incredibly disparaging.”

“Permission was not only granted for its use, but they publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album,” Beyoncé’s statement to the Sun read. “For their song, there was no sound recording use, only the composition was utilized. Permission was asked of their publisher on May 11, 2022, and the publisher approved the use on June 15, 2022. They were paid for the usage in August 2022.”

In the days leading up to the release of Beyoncé’s latest album, “Renaissance,” Right Said Fred tweeted, “It’s nice to get a writing credit on the new ‘Beyonce’ album.”

The statement went on to call the accusations “false” and noted that Right Said Fred retains ownership.

“Furthermore, the copyright percentage of the Right Said Fred writers with respect to the use of ‘I’m Too Sexy’ is a substantial portion of the composition. Collectively the Right Said Fred writers own more than any other singular writer and have co-writer credit.”

Robert Manzoli, Richard Fairbrass and Christopher Fairbrass of Right Said Fred were officially credited as co-writers of the song, but on Monday the Fairbrass brothers leveled their accusation against the “Break My Soul” singer in the Sun.

“Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person she just had probably thought ‘come and get me’ so we heard about it after the fact when you did,” they said. “But everyone else, Drake and Taylor Swift, they came to us.”

Swift used an interpolation of “I’m Too Sexy” for her 2017 single “Look What You Made Me Do.” Drake also opted to interpolate the song for 2021’s “Way 2 Sexy.”

“To use our melody they need our permission so they send us the demo and we approve it and if so we get a co-write credit,” the duo continued. “With this Beyoncé thing there are 22 writers, it’s ridiculous, so we would get about 40p [about 45 cents].

“We can’t stop it,” they said about the “Single Ladies” artist using their melody. “There is nothing we can do. ... You are going to get into a conversation with someone who has a lot more presence and power and money than we do. And that won’t go well.”

The members of Right Said Fred aren’t the only artists to call out Beyoncé for improper use of their music. After the singer used a sample of Kelis’ 2003 song “Milkshake” for her track “Energy,” Kelis called the sample “theft.”

“The reality is that it’s frustrating. I have the right to be frustrated,” she said in a July 28 Instagram video, where she also blamed producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo for alleged misuse of the interpolation that was later removed. “Why did no one have the human decency to call and be like ‘Yo, hey, [we] would like to use your record.’ The reason why I’m annoyed is because I know it was on purpose. This was an on-purpose, direct hit.

“It’s called thievery because ... the definition of collaboration, it means that we are working together,” she added. “There’s no working together if you are not even checking to see if everything’s cool.”

Beyoncé: Right Said Fred’s ‘Sexy’ claims are ‘erroneous and incredibly disparaging’

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