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Comment by teach | Hacker News Reader

That's pretty misrepresentative of the events.

Yankovic _thought_ he had gotten permission and when he later found out Coolio hadn't been consulted he was mortified.

Not only that, but this episode also only serves to prove Yankovic's point, that it's best to get permission even if you don't legally have to.

That's fair. I'll concede on that. You're right.

From what I've read he knew he had permission from the record label, and knew he didn't have Coolio's blessing. I wasn't there, but it seems unlikely that if he immediately had turned around like "wow I didn't know" the so-called beef wouldn't have lasted years until they made nice.

From: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bp/coolio-did-not-want-w...

>Coolio said when Weird Al initially requested to remake the song, he said, "No," but later realized that, due to the fair use copyright laws, he could not stop the production.

>Coolio later reconsidered Weird Al's proposal. "I sat down, and I really thought it out," he told the students at IPR. "I was like, 'Wait a minute.' I was like, 'Coolio, who the f—k do you think you are? He did Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson didn't get mad.'"

You're citing an interview with Coolio, which doesn't reflect Weird Al's experience. I don't have a citation on hand, but the story I've always read is Weird Al asked Coolio's label, got a "yes" back, and believed that the label had asked Coolio. Ever since then he made sure to get the answer directly from the artist in question.

Regardless, he got the owner's permission. (Not the artist's though)

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