Earlier on Monday Lil Nas X and a Brooklyn-based collective MSCHF dropped their new collaboration of Custom Air Max 97 which consisted of an actual drop of human blood dubbed as “Satan Shoes”.
But this led Nike to face a lot of backlash online and now the company has sued MSCHF and put out a statement that it does not have any relationship with MSCHF or Lil Nas X and the shoes were produced without Nike’s approval.
Nike filed a trademark infringement and dilution complaint against MSCHF today related to the Satan Shoes, we don’t have any further details to share on pending legal matters. However, we can tell you we do not have a relationship with Lil Nas X or MSCHF. The Satan Shoes were produced without Nike’s approval or authorization, and Nike is in no way connected with this project.
Nike on its lawsuit
The shoes accompany Lil Nas X’s new music video Montero(Call Me By Your Name), which also portrays the singer as a demon and also showcased Satan. Some people are finding this latest collab funny while some were not happy. Amid this controversy, people began coming after Nike over their latest shoes.
This led Nike to release statement distancing themselves from this release and they also issued a copyright infringement lawsuit:
“Nike has not and does not approve or authorize MSCHF’s customized Satan Shoes. Moreover, MSCHF and its unauthorized Satan Shoes are likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF’s products and Nike. In fact, there is already evidence of significant confusion and dilution occurring in the marketplace, including calls to boycott Nike in response to the launch of MSCHF’s Satan Shoes based on the mistaken belief that Nike has authorized or approved this product.“
As of now, Lil Nas X was not named as a defendant in the suit, but he has been pretty active on Twitter reflecting his thought on this controversy in a more fun way.
For more news: Spotify HiFi is coming later this year