On Tuesday, Sabaté had good news for his Instagram followers: Universal had bowed to the pressure and allowed him to use the music.
“Huge THANK YOU to everyone who reposted, shared and supported,” he wrote on his story.
Yeah, those things.Credit: AP
“Because of you, Universal Studios reconsidered and officially granted the rights for this one special occasion. I’m so happy to see that the minions hitting Olympic ice is becoming real again!”
The situation has shone a light on the complications of using modern music in figure skating, and how competitors are subject to forces beyond the sport – although Sabaté’s Minions mishap is one of the most extreme examples of copyright enforcement ever seen.
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For many years, skaters had no such issues because they worked with classical music, most of which was considered to be in the public domain, and therefore could be used without permission. Since 2014, the ISU has allowed music with lyrics to be used to modernise the sport – but the process of ticking the necessary boxes is opaque and confusing, and other skaters have encountered problems and, in some cases, lawsuits from artists for not receiving the required clearances.
It’s unclear exactly what happened behind the scenes that enabled Sabaté to skate to his Minions soundtrack selection without issue for months, only to have the rug pulled from under him just before the biggest moment of his career.
Australia’s figure skaters, according to team officials, will face no such issues when competition begins at the Forum di Milano in Milan from Friday. Australia has qualified four athletes – pairs skaters Anastasia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulos Moore, and ice dancers Holly Harris and Jason Chan – and they have all successfully submitted their chosen music through the ISU.
The only time Australians have been caught up in music-related figure skating drama was at Sochi 2010, when Russian ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were accused of demeaning Australian Indigenous people and appropriating their culture with a routine involving bodysuits with white markings and what appeared to be brown face make-up, sparking condemnation.
Australia’s ice dancers, Danielle O’Brien and Greg Merriman, also had an Indigenous-inspired program at that Olympics, but had consulted elders while putting together their choreography.
The Winter Olympic Games will be broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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