We wish we could tell you as we approach the third anniversary of his passing that there was peace between the houses Chris Cornell built; sadly, the only thing to report is an escalation in the growing legal battle.
As we told you back in December of last year, Vicky Cornell filed a lawsuit against her late husband’s former bandmates in the seminal grunge rock band Soundgarden. According to Chris’ widow, guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd, and drummer Matt Cameron were trying to “strong-arm” the estate into giving them some of their singer’s audio recordings — by holding back royalties she and her children were owed.
She also accused Thayil of inciting threats against her family by fans who believed she was the obstacle to the release of the final seven Soundgarden songs.
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Now the rockers are striking back with a lawsuit of their own — one which frankly seems wholly unrelated to the other issues.
According to their countersuit, Vicky has not given them a proper accounting of the money raised by a charity concert. They say they played the I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell show in January 2019 with the promise all proceeds would be given to charity by the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation.
However, they claim only $643,000 was logged (it went to a medical research charity called the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medial Research Foundation) while “many millions of dollars” are still unaccounted for.
Even worse, they aren’t just implying wrongdoing; they’re straight up accusing her of “fraudulent inducement” — saying she used a so-called charity concert to make money for “personal purposes for herself and her family.”
Yeesh! That is a bold accusation of Trumpian behavior!
Vicky has already responded to the claims, calling the accusations a personal insult to the memory of Chris:
“When you attack the foundation, you attack my husband’s legacy. The foundation has nothing to do with who owns Chris’ vocal recordings. Their knowingly false allegations are a deliberate attempt to harm not just my credibility, but the foundation my husband and I created and everything WE stand for.”
She also tweeted:
“You were so wrong to think you’d silence me by lies, intimidation and fear. That you might break me because its a gutwrenching time. He is always with me and you can’t change the truth by lying and for what to stir up crazies and legitimize them while attacking CC’s legacy…”
Celeb attorney Marty Singer, who is representing Vicky through all these legal issues, released a statement in response to the countersuit as well, saying:
“It is unfortunate that Chris Cornell’s three former bandmates — who have made millions of dollars from Chris’ hard work, talent and creativity — continue to attack Chris’ legacy, his widow, and his young children by making salacious, scurrilous, and vicious allegations in order to distract from the truth… As Chris’ former band members are well aware, every single penny of the proceeds generated by the concert were properly allocated and accounted for and their statements are not only false and defamatory but demonstrate the depths to which Chris’ former bandmates are willing to sink to tarnish his legacy.”
Harsh. But is it fair?
Where do YOU come down in this legal battle? Or like us do you just wish it would end??
[Image via Sakura/Nicky Nelson/WENN.]
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