Last February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted out a photo of a coffee mug with a farting unicorn on it. He declared it his "favorite mug ever."
That was good for the ceramic artist who designed the mug, Denver-based Tom Edwards. The artist says he sold about 50 farting unicorn mugs because of that tweet.
Two months later, Edwards said he was surprised to see his mug artwork repurposed by Musk again. This time, it was being used to promote a software upgrade on all of Tesla's cars, Edwards said. The flatulating unicorn was used as a logo on the Tesla app, too.
That meant some more mug sales for Edwards, but he didn’t like that Musk used his art without asking.
That's when the Seattle music scene jumped into the fray. Edward's daughter happens to be well-known Seattle musician Robin Edwards, who performs under the name Lisa Prank. She posted on Twitter Tuesday that Elon Musk ripped off her Dad’s farting unicorn.
Robin's friends, Seattle musician Bree McKenna of Tacocat, Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt, and Stacy Peck of OnonoS, jumped into the Twitter commotion to lend 280-character maximum support.
hey y’all Grimes’ boyfriend ripped off my dad’s art! this is a true story! what do you have to say for yourself @elonmusk ?? https://t.co/TMMJAS1ZGM
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 26, 2018
Robin’s in a fight with Elon Musk on twitter pic.twitter.com/0Dq1tfyDzQ
— Bree Mckenna (@ComradeBree) June 27, 2018
You clearly stole Tom’s artwork @elonmusk just admit to it! Give him some money!!!
— 𝐣𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐨 (@cool__slut) June 27, 2018
Following an article about the farting unicorn debacle published by The Guardian, even more celebrities started tweeting about Edwards and his art.
J.K. Rowling wrote this:
The spinoff you never knew you wanted. pic.twitter.com/NaE0n0c6C2
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 27, 2018
Then songwriter Vanessa Carlton urged Musk to "be the hero."
Elon! Be the hero! Not the villain! Send him a car! Farting unicorns are genius. Equal to your cars. This is a fair deal. Make it happen! x
— 𝕍 𝕒 𝕟 𝕖 𝕤 𝕤 𝕒 ℂ 𝕒 𝕣 𝕝 𝕥 𝕠 𝕟 (@VanessaCarlton) June 28, 2018
But what is the right thing? What does Tom Edwards want?
“My main mission here is that artists should get paid for their work,” Edwards said.
He acknowledges that it may be "kind of a tall order," but Edwards wants to convince Elon Musk to negotiate a price for incorporating his art in the Tesla brand.
Eugene Beliy, an entertainment and intellectual property attorney based in Seattle, says that in cases of copyright, the rights holders have to enforce their rights. The biggest deterrent to doing that, though, is usually money.
“Musk is saying ‘come sue me’ knowing full well that it's impractical for the artist to follow through on a full litigation, even if they have a pretty clear-cut case,” said Beliy.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tweets authored by Musk were deleted Thursday.
[asset-images[{"caption": "Following a Twitter feud Tuesday June 26, 2018 with well-known Seattle musician Robin Edwards, who plays under the name Lisa Prank, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has deleted tweets related to farting unicorn art. ", "fid": "145723", "style": "placed_wide", "uri": "public://201806/screen_shot_2018-06-30_at_2.30.58_pm.png", "attribution": "Credit Twitter Screenshot"}]]To Beliy, the deleted tweets mean that Tesla Motors lawyers might be intervening. Does that mean the farting unicorn potter will see a quiet settlement from the tech mogul soon?
We'll update if we find out.
Brie Ripley is KUOW's social media producer. She wants your tips on Pacific Northwest internet happenings. Email her: brieripley@kuow.org
