Leah McSweeney of indie fashion line Married to the Mob has been putting out Supreme Bitch t-shirts since 2004. Nine years later, James Jebbia of Supreme decides to sue McSweeney for copyright infringement — for $10,000,000. That’s a fairly intimidating gesture. But bring it: McSweeney hired notable free speech lawyer Norman Siegel. And now, legendary artist Barbara Kruger weighs in. With an uppercut.
Disclaimer: Leah McSweeney is a personal friend of ANIMAL.
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While, “Supreme Bitch” is a very obvious parody of the Supreme logo — a “fuck you,” ♀ twist on the corporate macho skate brand — the Supreme logo itself, however, is a pretty shameless rip of Barbara Kruger’s signature type face. It also makes no sense, since it is derivative of the work of an artist that would hate the commercialism and exploitive imagery peddled by Supreme.
Leah McSweeney spoke her side at length (read the case doc here), citing that little detail about Kruger — one of Supreme’s many design infringements. When Complex reached out to Kruger for comment, she responded, basically saying this lawsuit is ridiculous… in her own way. See her response below.
Upon seeing the Kruger update, McSweeney issued a “B-Rabbit defense“:
I’VE NEVER FELT MORE HONORED TO BE AN UNCOOL JOKER tinyurl.com/bour2q7 #BARBARAKRUGER
— Leah McSwizzle (@LeahMOB) May 2, 2013
