‘Burn The Witch’ video has “tarnished the brand.”
William Mollett, the son-in-law of Trumpton creator Gordon Murray, has expressed displeasure at Radiohead’s reference to the classic children’s TV series and implied the family may consider the video for ‘Burn The With’ a breach of copyright.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mollett said “Radiohead should have sought our consent as we consider this a tarnishing of the brand. It is not something we would have authorised. We consider that there is a breach of copyright and we are deciding what to do next.”
Trumpton is a 1960s English stop-motion animation series first aired on the BBC and part of a trilogy referred to as the Trumptonshire Trilogy alongside Camberwick Green and Chigley.
The video was released in the first week of May ahead of Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, their ninth studio album. Animator Virpi Kettu claimed Islamophobia and the ongoing refugee crisis were inspirations for the video. Kettu has previous worked at Aardman Animations, the company that created Wallace & Gromit, another well known stop-motion cartoon.
Mollett also claims that he would not show Mr. Murray the video because “he would be appalled.” The video’s director Chris Hopewell and Radiohead both declined to comment for the Daily Mail.
Earlier this week, Radiohead announced ‘Burn The Witch’ would be released as a 7″ single, with their rejected Spectre theme on b-side.
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