Team USA skaters Alexa Knierim, Brandon Frazier sued for song use at Beijing Olympics
Team USA figure skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were hit with a lawsuit this week by a music group for their use of their version of “House of the Rising Sun” during the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The music group Heavy Young Heathens, which is made up of Robert and Aron Marderosian, sued the figure skating duo along with NBC and U.S. Figure Skating on Thursday for the use of the song during their short program routine in Beijing.
The brothers claimed in the lawsuit, according to Reuters, that they weren’t contacted ahead of time by anybody — including NBC, USA Network and Peacock — about using the song for their short program.
"These violations cause great harm to the value of (the Marderosians) command for such a well known piece of their recording catalog, and insults the integrity of their professional reputation. While Knierim/Frazier, USFS, NBC, USA, Peacock are all profiting from the revenue the 2022 Winter Olympics generate, (the Marderosians) have been and continue to be deprived of what their creation 'House of the Rising Sun' earns them per license," the lawsuit said, via USA Today.
Their attorney, Mick Marderosian, told Reuters that NBC has since removed posts of the performance and that the duo’s agent “basically refused to listen to our issue.”
Knierim and Frazier finished with a score of 74.23 in their short program, just one tenth of a point ahead of Team USA pair Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc. China’s Wenjing Su and Cong Han set a short-program record with their score of 84.41.
