Recently, a Philadelphia-based wedding cover band called Jellyroll filed a lawsuit against the multiple-award-winning country star Jelly Roll for alleged copyright infringement. According to their social media posts, they trademarked the name decades ago and the “Save Me” singer’s international acclaim is overshadowing the local band’s name in search results. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time that he has been hit with a suit like this. The restaurant chain Waffle House threatened to sue him 13 years ago.
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In 2011, Jelly Roll released a mixtape called Whiskey, Weed, and Waffle House. The title was an ode to the then-rapper’s favorite things to consume. The mixtape’s cover featured a slightly modified Crown Royal whiskey bottle, a pot leaf, and the Waffle House logo. Less than three weeks after he released the 22-track collection, the restaurant chain issued a cease and desist order.
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The next day, Jelly Roll took to social media to let his fans know about the looming legal action. At the time, the underground hip-hop artist with a cult following took the threat in stride. He was just happy to have made enough noise to be on the national restaurant chain’s radar.
Jelly Roll Reacts to Waffle House Cease and Desist Order
On March 22, 2013, he gave his fans the update on Facebook. “Yesterday I received a certified Cease and Desist letter from Waffle House telling me that I have 10 days to respond and take down everything that has anything to do with their name,” he wrote. “WOW,” he added. “I never thought in a million years that I would ever get popular enough to ever get in trouble with Waffle House, especially only 20 days after releasing the mixtape!!!”
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He went on to say that he was meeting with his manager, publicist, and an entertainment lawyer that day to figure out what steps he should take. True to form, he took time to thank his fans in a time when many artists would be panicking. “Thank y’all for the love. In 20 days because of y’all, we have managed to piss off one of the biggest chain restaurants in America. WHISKEY WEED AND WAFFLE HOUSE!!!!!” he concluded.
In the end, Jelly Roll changed the mixtape’s title and removed the logo from the cover. The collection is available to stream now under the title Whiskey Weed and Women. As a nod to the legal action, he added a cease and desist stamp to the cover.
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