Entertainment
Beyoncé brands accusation that she sampled Right Said Fred without their permission ‘false’ and ‘disparaging’-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
She says the band were paid for the usage.
Beyoncé has responded to the allegations that she sampled the group’s track without permission (Picture: Getty)
Beyoncé has branded an accusation by Right Said Fred she was too ‘arrogant; to ask permission to sample their music ‘false’ and ‘disparaging.’
The singer, 41, hit back after the group this week made the allegation at the 2022 Broadcast Music Inc Awards in the Savoy Hotel, London, saying she used their 1991 song I’m Too Sexy without consent in her Alien Superstar track.
Right Said Fred – brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass – claimed that the Halo hitmaker didn’t contact them prior to releasing her track, which features on her new album, Renaissance.
‘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. But everyone else, Drake and Taylor Swift, they came to us,’ the band told The Sun.
Drake used the track in his 2021 tune Way 2 Sexy, while Taylor included it in her 2017 smash hit single Look What You Made Me Do.
Quashing allegations, however, Beyoncé responded in a statement issued to Mail Online on Friday, saying permission was granted for her sample, and the group had been paid.
Alien Superstar features on the singer’s latest hit album, Renaissance (Picture: Beyoncé)
The singer’s team said: ‘The comments made by Right Said Fred stating that used I’m Too Sexy in Alien Superstar without permission are erroneous and incredibly disparaging.
Permission was not only granted for its use, but they publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album. For their song, there was no sound recording use, only the composition was utilised.’
They continued, with dates: ‘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.’
Right Said Fred said the likes of Drake and Taylor Swift did contact them about sampling their tune (Picture: Martin Pope/Getty Images)
Beyoncé’s team also said that 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. This accusation is false.’
This isn’t the first time Beyoncé has faced such allegations following the release of her latest record.
Kelis last month hit out at Beyoncé for allegedly using her 2003 song Milkshake on her album track Energy without consultation, which has now been removed from the song on Spotify.
Despite the success of Renaissance, the album has also received criticism for some of its lyrics, after coming under fire for including an ableist lyric in the track song Heated.
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Reps for the star later confirmed that the lyric would be replaced, just as Lizzo had done weeks earlier with her song, Grrrls.
‘The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,’ they said.
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