Vancouver Olympics Silences Indie Rock Acts With Contractual Gag Order
from the stay-quiet-now dept
We've covered how the Olympics has time and time again abused intellectual property law to try to silence all sorts of reasonable activity, and the upcoming Vancouver Olympics have been no exception. In the latest move, sent in by drewmo (though he forgot the link, and made us go searching...) is that a Vancouver-based musician, Carey Mercer, is pointing out that the Vancouver Olympic Committee is pushing contracts on musicians that include a gag order against saying anything bad at all about the Olympics.The Olympics always has a "cultural component," a cultural Olympiad, and this year, to quote their puke-in-my-mouth inducing website, they have made a back-patting hullabaloo about including "cutting edge indie rock." And each and every "cutting edge" performer that has agreed to play has signed a contract that includes the above clause. A clause that states, in case you skimmed over it, that these artists must never say anything negative about an entity that will spend 900 million dollars on "security." An entity that has already infuriated anti-poverty and anti-homeless groups who accuse VANOC of not living up to its promise of providing affordable housing.Part of Mercer's complaint is that no one seems to be able to determine if the Olympics is a public or private entity, since censorship by a government entity would seem like a big no-no:
Most participating artists claim to be unaware of this clause.
No one, including our courts, can figure out if it is a public or private entity. It seems to be public when it needs tax dollars (6 billion), but private whenever it is challenged...And, sure, you can understand why the Vancouver Olympics might not want musicians it hires to say anything bad about them, but putting a contractual gag clause in there seems to suggest that the organization simply can't take any criticism. Mercer is also concerned about what this does for the musicians who signed these gag orders, often without realizing it:
When artists are not allowed to critique their government, or the governing agency that endows them with grants and funding, then what they are asking for is nothing more than propaganda.
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Biting the hand that feeds?
Seems like you are making a big deal out of nothing.
If the artist wants to exercise free speech on their own dime, nobody is stopping them.
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Amy Goodman
Well, so much for their efforts to control bad publicity about the Olympics. Score one for the Streisand Effect!
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Gag Clauses
Guess we'll find out.
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Re:
The Olympics doesn't need all this protection. It doesn't need gag orders and copyright/trademark protections and police taking signs of protest down. It needs to realize that moves like this make people think the Olympics is run by a bunch of greedy jackoffs instead of thinking that the Olympics is some sort of benevolent force for goodwill and peace between nations.
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Re:
Heh. Always love a comment that starts with an insult.
But, back to the point: No, this is not "standard and expected." Especially not in the case of a quasi-government entity. But even in cases where there are disparagement-type clauses in contracts, they have important limitations on them, which this one appears not to have.
And, even if these were standard, that still doesn't excuse them.
Whenever I hear someone claim "it's standard, stop complaining" I remember Fred Wilson's story of what happened early in his career when he said that to someone:
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/06/a-lesson-from-morty.html
Claiming "everyone does this" is an excuse of people who can't defend why it's there.
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Is this really unusual ?
Why is this surprising.
If the artist feels so negatively towards the Olympics that they feel this "gag order" is so unacceptable, perhaps they should maintain their artistic integrity entirely and choose not to perform for the VANOC at all.
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Re: Is this really unusual ?
AT ALL TIMES. And it applies to many outside the direct scope of the company. I bet the contract with Ford was limited to the term of the contract/employment. I am also sure it did not bar you from badmouthing other companies that does business with Ford in some way or another (like, you cannot say anything bad about any TV station, radio station, or newspaper because they run ads.)
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Contractual clauses such as this are very common, I have seen regular work contracts that include clauses about discussing the company, your work, etc. All the Olympic organizers are trying to do is stop the negative nellies from sneaking in and making a big stink in the middle of public events. It's pretty normal.
Don't let the people who would want to spoil a great interenational event spoon feed you their crap. They don't deserve the time of day.
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Been there...
The Olympic Committee is a Eurocentric group and feels they "own" the Olympics. But not in a 'good way.' They feel entitled to positive press in every case as they have brought this wonderful thing, out of the goodness in their hearts, to your town. Sorry, guys, it just ain't so!
My advise is don't sign anything that goes against the natural law of free speech. Strike a blow for freedom!
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Don't need to - when steps are taken to kill free speech, nothing more needs to be said. Oh well, I'll *ban* them from my TV too.
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Re:
Also, saying this is ok because this type of wording is in a lot of contracts is a false premise argument. It makes the assumption that all of the other contracts are good. I would argue that all uses of this type of wording are more likely questionable than argue that it's use elsewhere ensures it is ok here.
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Re:
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my bad!
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Re: Biting the hand that feeds?
If you have any kind of signage that opposes or bad mouths Olympics, even if it's on private property, the police will have the right to bust down your door to take it down.
It's not really Vancouver's winter olympics, but more like the Beijin Olympics all over again.
Vancouver has sinked so low that we have similar tactics with China...
P.S. I am a Canadian living in Vancouver and it's not pretty down here right now...
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Re: my bad!
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Re: my bad!
No worries, just noting it so that others remember.
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Re: Re: my bad!
Yikes, sorry. Wasn't mean to be a "complaint" or "dickish." Just a good way to remind people to send in links when commenting on a story.
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Wanting to visit the Olympics, no tickets :(
to the events, but I thought there may be other events going on in the city. I read about the Olympic village and it seems like it is not accessible to the general public. Isn’t there always some type of Olympic Park where things are going on? I read about an Olympic park in Whistler, but it is not open to the public. I don’t want to travel hundreds of miles and have no chance of actually meeting anyone accept by chance. Can someone tell me if there are any public events in Vancouver or the other Olympic venues or a chance to meet the athletes or other celebs? Perhaps there are other blogs or websites you could recommend?
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