In Thursday night’s episode of “Glee” a very familiar cover song of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s rap hit “Baby Got Back” performed by Jonathan Coulton was not exactly properly represented.
Coulton claims that “Glee’s” version included Coulton’s line “Johnny C’s in trouble,” replacing the lyric “Mix-A-Lot’s in trouble” in the original song. Coulton was not credited on Thursday night’s episode for the use of his cover song.
Fox Broadcasting representatives told Coulton’s representatives that “they’re within their legal rights to do this, and that I should be happy for the exposure.” Since Coulton’s song is considered a cover and not legally copyrighted like the original work by Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”, Coulton does not have a copyright claim against “Glee” for using his version on Thursday night’s episode.
Fans of Coulton are not taking this lightly and find it unethical, but since Glee sang the song and didn’t use the actual recording of Coulton’s voice, he cannot pursue any copyright claims at the moment. He may be able to use the video footage of Thursday night’s episode as his evidence.
As for now Coulton said his lawyer is in touch with the people at ‘Glee.’
