Celebs Who Slammed Brands For Selling Merch Without Approval

For the biggest celebrities in Hollywood, having control over their image is one thing they will forever struggle with. For die-hard fans, merchandise is something they love to spend money on to support their faves, buying them in bulk at concerts or searching the internet for vintage-inspired T-shirts. 

With that in mind, brands will always try to find a way to capitalize on it with their own unauthorized merch. Over the years, artists like Taylor Swift have used their trademarks and legal team to crack down on fans using their likenesses for items sold on Etsy. According to TMZ, in 2015, even Queen Bey cracked down on Etsy sellers for selling items with the term, "Feyoncé" on them.

Celebrities understand the power of their name and image. As brands themselves, they know that if anyone should be making money off their own likeness, it should be them. Selling merchandise without their approval can not only end in a lawsuit but in a public statement from a celeb bashing them. All of these celebrities made their feelings known against brands who dared to sell merch without their approval.

In the eyes of Justin Bieber, H&M committed a serious fashion faux pas. In 2022, the pop star took to his Instagram Stories feed (via Page Six) to publicly slam the clothing brand for selling apparel featuring his face and name. "I didn't approve any of the merch collection that they put up at H&M ... all without my permission and approval," Bieber wrote to his fans. "... I wouldn't buy it if I were you." In a follow-up post, he added, "The H&M merch they made of me is trash," and urged fans not to support it. 

After voicing his displeasure with H&M, the clothing brand quickly removed the items from their site. In a statement given to Page Six, the store acknowledged Bieber's feelings but denied they released the items without approval. "As with all other licensed products and partnerships, H&M followed proper approval procedures," the statement read. 

Bieber's anger might stem from the star having his own clothing line, House of Drew that he regularly promotes. With his own clothing line and official merchandise, it would make sense that he would crack down on brands selling Bieber T-shirts without his approval. There's no word yet if H&M's sorry was too late in Bieber's eyes. 

In 2011, Drake's "Take Care" album took over pop culture. With a slew of hits on the radio, there was no escaping him. One song from the Grammy-winning album that gained popularity was "The Motto," featuring Lil Wayne, founder of Young Money. The song's lyrics included the acronym YOLO, which quickly caught on. "You Only Live Once" officially became everyone's motto for the year 2012. It wasn't long before brands saw an opportunity to sell merchandise with YOLO on it, and Champagne Papi wasn't too happy. 

As Gawker reported, the rapper took to his Instagram to call out those selling unauthorized YOLO merchandise. He posted a photo of a stack of YOLO caps being sold two for $12 with the caption, "Walgreens ... you gotta chill or cut the check." He soon followed that up with a warning to Macy's who were selling a T-shirt featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy alongside the same acronym. "Macy's ... same goes for you," he captioned the photo. 

However, the rapper soon found himself in a sticky situation. Despite his displeasure with brands using the phrase, he was quickly reminded that he didn't officially own the trademark. According to Complex, the YOLO trademark holder was a restaurant owner from Florida. Tim Petrillo actually trademarked the term back in 2010 when he opened Fort Lauderdale's YOLO Restaurant. Yikes! Walgreens and Macy's might want to redirect Drake's check to him.

In 2015, the biggest stars in music joined forces like The Avengers and filed a lawsuit against the French brand, ElevenParis for selling unauthorized merchandise with their faces on them. Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Kanye West, and Pharrell accused the fashion brand of infringing on intellectual property and violating trademarks and copyright laws. The merchandise in question involved items such as T-shirts sold featuring the faces of each artist and others bearing slogans like "Kanye is my homie," and "Pharrell Is My Brotha." Other items of apparel used lyrics from songs by Beyoncé and Rihanna, which dipped the lawsuit into other areas of copyright infringement. 

Additionally, all of these celebrities have fashion brands of their own, which prompted accusations of unfair competition against the company. In a statement published by The Cut, the store responded to the claims by stating, "ElevenParis is determined to find a fair and balanced agreement with them and their advisers." The lawsuit was eventually settled two months later with the French fashion brand agreeing to immediately stop manufacturing and selling the unapproved merchandise. However, it was not disclosed how much the fashion brand agreed to pay the artists in damages.

Long before launching her own fashion house, Rihanna was shutting down fashion brands that were using her likeness. In 2013, the "We Found Love" singer slammed the British retailer, Topshop for selling an unapproved T-shirt with her face branded on it. As Billboard reported, the high street brand ignored multiple requests from Rihanna and her legal team to halt sales of the unauthorized merchandise. The star later filed a $5 million lawsuit and reportedly spent around $1 million on the ligation. 

A source close to the musician and billion-dollar entrepreneur told Page Six that the singer was not messing around with the lawsuit. ​​"She says it's the principle and wants to make a statement about it," they dished. "They are taking advantage of artists. It is just exploitation." In response, Topshop told the outlet that the item in question had come via a third-party supplier. As noted by the BBC, per UK law at that time, celebrities had no right over how their likeness was reproduced if the person using it owned copyright over the image. 

Still, things worked out for Riri. That same year, a judge ruled in her favor, with the court agreeing that the musician's fans may have been deceived into believing the merchandise was approved by the singer. In 2015, Topshop later lost an appeal when the court upheld the ban on them selling tees featuring her likeness and the brand learned an important lesson – don't mess with Rihanna.

In 2017, Kendall and Kylie Jenner's joint clothing line, Kendall + Kylie, caught some heat. The famous sisters released a line of vintage-inspired tees that featured images of musical icons like the Notorious B.I.G., Ozzy Osbourne, and Tupac Shakur. According to Rolling Stone, the T-shirts included their faces and initials superimposed over the images of the music icons — all apparently without any approval to use those likenesses. 

Shortly after the tees launched, Violetta Wallace, mother of the Notorious B.I.G., publicly slammed the sisters for the collection. "The disrespect of these girls to not even reach out to me or anyone connected to the estate baffles me," she wrote on Instagram. "I have no idea why they feel they can exploit the deaths of 2Pac and my son Christopher to sell a T-shirt." Sharon Osbourne, the wife of Ozzy, similarly denounced the line on Twitter, writing, "Girls, you haven't earned the right to put your face with musical icons. Stick to what you know ... lip gloss."

The T-shirts were eventually pulled following a cease and desist sent by the rapper's estate. Following the outrage and legal threats, Kendall posted an apology on Twitter. "These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize ... especially to the families of the artists," the statement read, in part. However, the drama didn't end there, as a photographer whose image was used on a tee featuring Tupac also filed a lawsuit citing copyright infringement. It was later dismissed and a settlement was reached.