Rosa Parks Holds Out from OutKast

07/31/2004 1:15 AM, E! Online
Charlie Amter

Civil-rights hero Rosa Parks has no love below, or above for that matter, for OutKast.

The ailing 91-year-old Parks filed a lawsuit against the Grammy-winning hip-hop duo in 1999, accusing Big Boi and Andre 3000 of profiting off her moniker by appropriating it for the1998 tune "Rosa Parks" and falsely suggesting the song was endorsed by her.

The lawsuit was thrown out by a lower court, then reinstated in 2003 by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals , a decision that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court .

Now, a federal judge in Detroit is asking why Parks won't show up to testify that the song caused her "emotional and mental distress."

Parks' lawyers contend that the elderly icon suffers from an unspecified medical condition.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald A. Scheer said Thursday that Parks' doctor must release records relating to her medical condition and explain why she cannot be questioned by the defense.

Lawyers for OutKast also scored another victory in court this week, as Scheer revealed that OutKast is no longer named defendants in the lawsuit--only BMG will now fight the charges.

Apparently, the fact that OutKast's name was misspelled in the original suit factored into that decision.

Outcast? Who's that? Outcaste? Never heard of them.

But Team BMG still has a major battle on its hands, especially with the unenviable gig of fighting one of America's most beloved civil-rights champions.

Parks, of course, made history for refusing to surrender her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus. Her subsequent arrest sparked a 386-day boycott by blacks against the city bus system, which led to court rulings eventually desegregating public transportation and repealing the South's Jim Crow laws.

Unless a settlement is reached before Jan. 10, BMG lawyers may have to convince a jury in Detroit that OutKast was not trying to profit off of Parks' name with the hit off of the 1999 Arista/BMG release Aquameni.

BMG lawyers have asserted that the song in question is not about Parks at all, and is really about the entertainment industry.

In 2002, OutKast's lawyers argued that the rap duo's use of Parks' name and "everybody go to the back of the bus" lyric did not constitute false advertising nor infringe on Parks' right to publicity, as Parks' attorneys previously claimed. Rather, the legal eagles said that while Parks' act of defiance inspired the line, it was really a symbolic slam to rival rappers looking to surpass OutKast's success.

Either way, it's going to be a tough sell to a jury that may or may not be familiar with the Atlanta-based rappers.

In March, OutKast won three Grammys , including Album of the Year, for the multiplatinum release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, but that doesn't mean everyone on a Detroit jury will be singing "Hey Ya!"

This isn't the first time in recent years Parks has sought to defend her rep from pop culture references.

In 2002, several activists, including Jesse Jackson, were upset when Parks' name was used in vain for laughs in the hit MGM movie Barbershop .