Sued by Yoko Ono for using a piece of John Lennon song, the producers of documentary “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed” latched on to the dispute to generate publicity.
The PG-rated “Expelled” would go on to gross $7.7 Million in domestic theatrical box office in 2008, which is blockbuster for the documentary category, where over $1 million is a hit. Rocky Mountain Pictures distributed the movie assembled by conservative political pundit and media celebrity Ben Stein.
Yoko Ono would ultimately lose the lawsuit over music by her late husband; the documentary uses a snippet of song “Imagine,” which a court ruled is permitted under the “fair use” legal doctrine.
The Fair Use Doctrine allows free, limited use of small bits of copyright material in works of others. For example, without fair use, a picture of a public street might be illegal to reproduce if it merely contained advertising billboards showing copyrighted material.
“Expelled” criticizes what it describes as the political left’s “culture wars” and attempts to enforce political correctness in academia. In particular, “Expelled” advances the idea of intelligent design in the creation of life and how opponents reject other interpretations of human evolution.
“If you really listen to the lyrics of [the song] ‘Imagine’ then you realize that it represents everything that the Neo-Darwinists want,” says a press release quoting Walt Ruloff Executive Producer of “Expelled” and CEO of Premise Media. “‘Imagine there’s no Heaven…No hell below us…Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too…’ That’s exactly what the Darwinist establishment wants to do: get rid of religion. And that’s what we point out when we play less than 15 seconds of the song and show some of the lyrics on screen.”
The same press release adds quoting Ben Stein getting in a dig: “So Yoko Ono is suing over the brief Constitutionally protected use of a song that wants us to ‘Imagine no possessions’? Maybe instead of wasting everyone’s time trying to silence a documentary she should give the song to the world for free? After all, ‘imagine all the people sharing all the world…You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the World can live as one.'”
Related content:
- PR from Baptist Press: 2008 “Expelled”: the Movie
- PR from American Humanist Assn.: Ben Stein “Expelled” by Humanists
- ‘Orlando Sentinel”: ‘Expelled’: Ben Stein’s Doc Devolves into a Ludicrous Rant
- Evan Law Firm: Ben Stein’s “Expelled” film permitted to use clip from Lennon’s ‘Imagine’
- PR Web: Yoko Ono Lawsuit Expelled!: Judge Rules in Favor of Expelled Producers; Film To Be Re-Released In Theaters This Summer
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