Justin Timberlake, along with some of the NBA’s biggest stars will market the 2013-14 NBA season on TNT with a theme of Timberlake’s “Take Back The Night” off his latest album “The 20/20 Experience – The Complete Experience.”
If Take Back the Night sounds familiar to you that’s because it is.
Take Back the Night (also known as Reclaim the Night) is an internationally held march and rally intended as a protest and direct action against rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Shortly after Justin Timberlake released the song was released, the Take Back the Night Foundation, an anti-rape organization, expressed concerns about the similarities between the song’s title and the organization’s name.
The Executive Director of the foundation publicly said: “The lyrics are definitely very sexual and not at all clearly anti-sexual violence. ‘Use me,’ for example, is not a great phrase for anyone affiliated with the organization.”
A pop song about S-E-X! OMG OMG! Shocking. But I do side with the foundation on this one. It sucks to have someone co-opt and redefine your name.
Take Back the Night sent Timberlake’s lawyers a letter detailing their concerns. Shortly after that the singer apologized saying that he was unaware of the organization and has come forward to support them, “I wanted to take this opportunity to let all know that neither my song nor its lyrics have any association with the organization. As I’ve learned more about the Take Back the Night Foundation, I’m moved by its efforts to stop violence against women, create safe communities and encourage respectful relationships for women—Something we all should rally around.”
The anti-rape organization, (which I hope had some strong words for the Social Chair at Phi Kappa Tau, Georgia Tech chapter) for their part, has decided not to pursue any suit against the Justin Timberlake, with Koestner saying, “At this point, we’re going to bow down gracefully, and accept that fighting this in court probably isn’t the best use of anyone’s time.
As you can hear below, TBTN is a really phat jam. It’s just a shame that a good song like this blatantly ripped off its title from an activist group with a serious mission.
The NBA “Take Back The Night” promo features live concert footage of Juston Timberlake spliced with game highlights from some of the biggest NBA stars including LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Blake Griffin, Tony Parker, Tayshaun Prince, Deron Williams, among others.
Opening night will see the defending champion Miami Heat and LeBron James hosting the Chicago Bulls and the highly-anticipated return of Derrick Rose at 7 p.m. CDT
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a regular analyst on news talk radio stations across the world; with weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS