by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
Korean singer-rapper Yoon Mirae was not amused when she heard her song “Pay Day” briefly play in the controversial Seth Rogan comedy The Interview.
“When we asked Sony about the use of ‘Pay Day’ in the movie, they replied by saying that they had a signed contract [authorizing their use of the song]. However, we did not sign such a contract,” Feel Ghood Music, Yoon’s agency, said at the time of the film’s release.
The Interview, a film that depicts the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, drew global attention after Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a cyberattack presumably instigated by North Korea.
Last December, Feel Ghood Music filed a lawsuit with a U.S. court against Sony Pictures Entertainment. After four months of legal dispute, the two parties announced on Wednesday that they have reached a settlement, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Sony Pictures said in an email sent to Yonhap that it acknowledged using the song before obtaining an official license and said that both parties amicably resolved the dispute.
“We want to emphasize that the fact that the track was included [in The Interview] does not mean that Yoon Mi Rae, Tiger JK, or Feel Ghood Music condones the content [of the film],” the studio wrote.
“Pay Day” is a track from Yoon’s third studio album released in 2007 and features her husband Tiger JK, who is also a Korean American hip-hop artist. The song played during a scene in the film where Kim Jong-un (portrayed by Randall Park) shows American talk-show host Dave Skylark (James Franco) how to party by drinking and playing billiards with women in lingerie.
You can watch Yoon Mirae and Tiger JK perform “Pay Day” below.
Recommended Reading
“Did North Korea Hack Sony? The Jury’s Still Out”
“Q&A with Seth Rogan: Behind the Making of the Interview“
“December/January 2015 Cover Story: Randall Park”
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