Run-DMC‘s iconic black, white and red logo has been re-appropriated countless times for a laundry list of products, however, that doesn’t mean it’s up for grabs. The legendary Hip Hop duo—Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels— is preparing to take two of America’s biggest retail giants to court for essentially stealing Run-DMC’s infamous logo. The Run-DMC brand has filed a lawsuit against Amazon and Walmart to the tune of $50 million, alleging both companies are advertising, selling, manufacturing, promoting, and distributing multiple products with the logo, leading people to mistakenly think DMC and Rev are cosigning them all, according to TMZ.
The lawsuit reportedly lists glasses, hats, T-shirts, patches, wallets, and several other pieces among the items being misrepresented as Run-DMC merch. According to the group, the Run-DMC logo is incredibly valuable, and the strength of their brand apparently helped McDaniels and Simmons secure a $1.6 million agreement with adidas years ago.
HipHopDX reached out to DMC for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publication.
