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.
