In 1998, the Sugar Hill Gang recorded a performance of their ultra-hit “Rapper’s Delight” for the Goodwill Games, of which Snapple and Ted Turner’s TBS were sponsors. The group was under the impression it was only to be used at a private party, but soon the clip found its way into national tv commercials. Sugar Hill filed a lawsuit in January 1999.
Snapple and Turner claimed that Sugar Hill knew the tape’s destiny when they shot the footage, but a New York judge disagreed, deciding in June 2001 that the rappers were taken advantage of. On Friday, a jury set the damage at a nearly $3 million, which will go to the group.
According to one member of Sugar Hill, Snapple was never interested in settling, and it seems that they are now paying for that.
DX COMMUNITY