Last week, Justin Timberlake released the first single “Take Back The Night” off his second installment of The 20/20 Experience, and it definitely stirred up some controversy with the sexual assault awareness foundation, Take Back The Night.
As a result, the foundation was ready to take legal action because Justin reportedly never contacted them regarding the use of the shared name.
But the 32-year-old singer released a statement:
“Upon the release of my new single ‘Take Back The Night’, I was made aware of an organization of the same name called The Take Back The Night Foundation. I wanted to take this opportunity to let all know that neither my song nor its lyrics have any association with the organization,” he said.
“As I’ve learned more about The Take Back The Night Foundation, I’m moved by its efforts to stop violence against women, create safe communities and encourage respectful relationships for women — Something we all should rally around. It is my hope that this coincidence will bring more awareness to this cause.”
Following JT’s statement, Katherine Koestner, the executive director of the foundation, said:
At this point, we’re going to bow down gracefully, and accept that fighting this in court probably isn’t the best use of anyone’s time. It’s best to focus on the mission, and his stated support is important to us. Mostly, it was shocking that an institution that goes back to 1973 went unnoticed by the likes of Justin Timberlake. It shows how much visibility we really need.
I think the best possible outcome is that more people know about our cause, and that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 8 men are victims of sexual violence in the US. We hope to shed light on a crime of silence, on what is a whispered cause instead of a shouted out cause. The more we can get people talking about it, the more people will take a stand against it.
We’re glad Justin Timberlake isn’t actually facing a lawsuit for making music.
SOURCE: NYDailyNews, BuzzFeed
