After Rob Zombie went to court to prove he wasn’t a sell-out, he called Britney Spears out publicly in an interview.
Over the last several years, many people have been shocked to learn how the media treated Britney Spears at the height of her career. Unfortunately for Spears, many celebrities in the music world also have done questionable things to Spears. A perfect example of that is Third Eye Blind’s frontman had a disgusting photo of Spears framed on his wall.
Unlike Third Eye Blind’s frontman, Rob Zombie never did anything that gross to Spears. However, Zombie definitely called Spears out as a sell-out in the past which makes you wonder if the two singers feuded after his comments went public.
Why Did Rob Zombie Call Britney Spears A Sell Out?
When most musicians rise to fame these days, it doesn’t take very long for them to fade back into relative obscurity. While there are many reasons for that, one of them is that many of today’s talented musicians still don’t stand out.
Most of the time when fans go to see their favorite bands live these days, the members walk out on stage wearing jeans and a graphic T-shirt. When the members of the band look like almost everyone in the crowd, that doesn’t make them seem special.
Unlike many of his peers, Rob Zombie has always known how to stand out. Often seen performing with makeup on his face, even when Rob Zombie has a clean face in public, his dreads and the clothes he wears still make him visually remarkable.
On top of his unique look, Zombie has made sure to have his own style in every other aspect of his public image. Between his music videos and movies that have created their own horror style, fans know what to expect from Zombie’s visuals.
Musically speaking, Zombie wears his influences on his sleeve including industrial, rock, heavy metal, and even nu metal artists. Zombie’s songs are also infused with sounds that bring to mind his favorite horror and sci-fi themes. Blending all of that together makes Zombie’s music very distinctive.
All things considered, it should be obvious to any of Zombie’s fans that his image is extremely important to him. With that in mind, it is easy to understand why it would be infuriating for Zombie if someone else took control of his image without permission or care.
In October 1999, Zombie must have been shocked when he heard about the latest Mazda truck commercial that was airing. The reason that the commercial must have been confusing for Zombie is an excerpt from his song “Demonoid Phenomenon” could be heard in the ad.
After Zombie presumably was shocked and confused at first, what Mazda had done quickly made him angry. Since Zombie didn’t permit the car company to use his song, he quickly made sure they were served with a cease-and-desist letter.
Once the commercial was pulled from the air, Zombie still wasn’t satisfied with the situation. As a result, Zombie wound up filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Mazda, but the matter never made it to court.
In 2002, MTV published an article with an update on the lawsuit. Before the matter could be heard, Mazda and Zombie reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed amount.
After the settlement, MTV reached out to Zombie for comment. While speaking to the outlet. Zombie explained that the lawsuit wasn’t about money for him. Instead, Zombie wanted to make sure that his fans knew that he didn’t sell out.
“They [Mazda and Doner] don’t seem to understand that once the cat’s out of the bag, it’s hard to get him back in there,” Zombie said in a statement. “It’s like [my policy is] ‘I don’t do this,’ and then there’s a car commercial running on television with my music.”
Zombie continued, “How do you explain that to every kid, that you didn’t sell out and didn’t do exactly what you said you weren’t going to do? Basically, it’s a question of what your reputation is worth.”
Zombie then went on to talk call out Britney Spears as a sell-out. Months before the settlement, Spears signed a massive deal with Pepsi. “Someone like Britney Spears doesn’t have any integrity to maintain, so it doesn’t matter — she’s a corporate puppet from the get-go,”
To say that Zombie’s comments about Spears were harsh is an understatement. If Zombie said things like that about many musical artists, that would have started a feud. In this case, however, Spears never seemed to publicly reply to Zombie, and he hasn’t been talking about her.
How Much Did Britney Spears Make From Her Endorsement Deals?
Based on Rob Zombie’s 2002 comments about Britney Spears, he looked down on her for making a corporate deal. However, based on what Spears has said about her long relationship with Pepsi over the years, she doesn’t seem to have any regrets.
According to reports, Pepsi has paid Spears at least $8 million for their long-lasting deal. Based on that alone, it seems extremely likely that Spears is happy she agreed to sponsor the company. On top of that, there is another reason Spears likely is very comfortable with her Pepsi deal.
Back when Spears first signed with Pepsi, stars appearing in commercials was rare and could be harshly judged. As a result, many stars opted to only star in commercials that exclusively aired overseas during that era. These days, however, celebrities starring in ads is a lot more common and nobody seems to blink an eye about it.
To this day, Rob Zombie has never starred in any commercials. However, there is no doubt that some artists that Zombie looks up to have. In the past, Alice Cooper has starred in commercials for Dodge, Apple, Progressive, and SiriusXM. Similarly, Ozzy Osbourne has starred in ads for Workday and PlayStation.
Given the image that Zombie wants for himself, it seems very likely that he is happy to have never starred in any commercials. However, it seems even more likely that he would never criticize stars like Osbourne and Cooper as harshly as he did Spears for their decisions to appear in ads.
