In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Eric Church said that he was sucked into a copyright suit that involved pop superstar Taylor Swift, after the latter mentioned his song during a court deposition.
Videos by American Songwriter
“In her deposition, when [talking about the line] ‘players gonna play, haters gonna hate,’ she says, ‘The first time I heard that phrase was in Eric Church’s song ‘The Outsiders,’’” Church divulged to Rolling Stone. “She was saying she never heard it on the [original song that Church was inspired by], which is what they were suing her for. And two weeks later, I got served by the people that were suing her!”
Taylor Swift’s Copyright Lawsuit Indirectly Involved Eric Church
For reference, Taylor Swift was sued back in 2017 by the songwriters behind the song “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW. Sean Hall and Nathan Butler accused Swift of using their lyrics “players gonna play, haters gonna hate” in her 2014 single “Shake It Off” without permission or credit. The lawsuit ended up taking up years in the courts before it was voluntarily dismissed sometime in 2022.
Before the case was dismissed, several months earlier, Swift said that she didn’t hear the lyric in the 3LW song. Rather, she heard it in the Eric Church song “The Outsiders”. Swift asserted that she heard that particular lyric in many forms of pop culture media. She also asserted that she did not know it was a direct reference to a 3LW song.
The namedrop occurred without Church having any prior knowledge that Swift would bring it up in court. And he wasn’t particularly happy about it. Church later sent Swift a text about the debacle.
“I sent her a text, and she responded,” said Church. “I was like, ‘Hey, thanks. Next time, let’s just skip that part?’ And she sent me a text: ‘I’m sorry. It’s the truth, though. That’s when I first heard that phrase.’”
Church also noted that his case was eventually settled, but he was still bewildered that he was dragged into the whole thing in the first place. Sean Hall and Nathan Butleer did not reveal the details of the dismissal, nor did they explain why they opted to drop the case voluntarily shortly before it was set to head to trial.
Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.