Australian breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has tried to be a good sport about the jokes and criticism that poured in from around the globe after her controversial performance at the Paris Olympics.
But maybe “Raygun: the Musical” was a bridge too far.
Comedian Stephanie Broadbridge called off the show just hours before it was set to premiere in Sydney, after Gunn’s lawyers contacted its comedy club venue and threatened legal action.
Broadbridge told her social media followers that the lawyers had trademarked the poster for the musical and told the comedian she could not do Gunn's notorious kangaroo dance because the Olympian who went viral for her performance in Paris owns it.
Gunn, a 37-year-old Sydney university lecturer, has said the fallout from her gig at the August debut of Olympic breaking left her “devastated” and forced her to retire from competition. Still, she said she appreciated the attention from famous comedians like late-night host Jimmy Fallon. “I don’t think I’m in a place yet to watch it but I will watch it at some point," she said.
On Thursday, Broadbridge provided an update on Instagram, revealing the musical had been rebranded as “Breaking: The Musical." The tagline: “A completely legal parody musical. A new tongue-in-cheek poster features the silhouette of a kangaroo in Raygun’s most memorable pose.
In a statement posted to Instagram on Thursday, Gunn said that her legal team had “resolved everything” after coming to an agreement with Broadbridge.
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“She still gets to go ahead with the musical, she’s got a new name, new poster, and she still gets to take that show on the road. So I’m really happy for her and I wish her all the best with the show and with the tour,” Gunn said.
She denied reports that she'd sought a 10,000 Australian dollar ($6,230) payment for the use of her name.
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“We have not sought any costs from all this. So there’s a lot of talk around this $10,000 ... that was from really early on, like day one, my lawyers were acting on my behalf."
Earlier media reports said Gunn’s lawyer were asking the musical’s promoter and Darlinghurst’s iD Comedy Club owner Anthony Skinner to pay at least that $10,000 in legal fees.
Skinner, who was planning to send the proceeds from the show to a Sydney women’s shelter, said she offered $500 but the amount was apparently rejected. Skinner was quoted by Australian media as saying he couldn't have asked for better publicity for the fledgling production which is now set for Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney in the first few months of next year.
Gunn said in her social media video that the decision to demand her name be removed from the musical was not about not “being able to take a joke."
“I really do strive to support creativity and have loved the ways my performance has sparked so many different artistic interpretations, and there was so many fantastic memes that were clever, and funny and creative,” she said.
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