Jack Black responded Thursday to Courtney Love's claim that 'Muppets' filmmakers violated the memory of Kurt Cobain. Love had said using a Nirvana song in the movie constituted a "rape," and Black brushed aside her criticism by calling her statements "absurd, absurd, absurd."
Black, who appears in the 'Muppets' scene in question, told E!'s Marc Malkin that he holds "no one in higher esteem in the world of rock" than the late Nirvana frontman.
"Kurt Cobain for me is at the top of the pyramid," Black said. "He's the king ... When he died it was sort of the end of rock."
The actor was in Austin promoting Bernie and performing with his comedy band, Tenacious D.
Love told TMZ Tuesday that the Muppets "raped" the memory of her late husband by using Nirvana's hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in their 2011 movie.
The eccentric Hole frontwoman maintains that she has absolute control over the usage of Cobain's catalog, but she might not be telling the whole story. Love apparently sold half of her remaining rights to the music to Primary Wave Music and gave the company the exclusive right to distribute Nirvana's complete catalog.
Not only did the company have the legal standing to license the song for the barbershop quartet rendition in the movie, but it even sought and obtained permission from Nirvana's surviving members, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic. Grohl also appears in the movie.
In 2005, Love sold 25 percent of the rights to the Nirvana catalog, pocketing a cool $50 million in the process. Five years later, she was offered $162 million for the rest of her majority stake, an offer she said she was considering because the songs and their royalties were "cursed."
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