“Rick and Morty” Themed Pub Gets Shut Down By Licensors
Surprisingly, not the worst news out of DC this week.
We recently covered Drink Company’s Wubba Lubba Dub PUB. We regret to inform you that Turner Broadcasting/Cartoon Network has shut the bar down. Drink Company’s official statement is below with more details.
Wubba Lubba Dub PUB was designed by fans for fans, though we think everyone would have enjoyed it. It was a labor of love and included hand sewn Meeseeks from our CEO Angie’s mother; graffiti work by an incredible artist; a 25-foot Ruben cut out by our Special Projects Director, hockey-referee-turned-
Turner Broadcasting/Cartoon Network wasn’t willing to let us do that and demanded we shut down. We then reached an agreement, and thus delayed for a week, but they changed their minds, threatened us with exorbitant fees and then took everything off the table today and refused to talk any further. The whole time we were operating in good faith and willing to make concessions to bring this wonderful work of fan art to life.
Now we have to lay off our beloved employees and take a massive financial hit, all because Turner Broadcasting/Cartoon Network are unwilling to figure out a way to let a great fan tribute happen. We are so sorry to all the fans but we also have learned a valuable lesson: when it comes to free speech and fair use, Turner Broadcasting/Cartoon
Our Take
Yea, if you don’t have a license for a work that’s the property of that license’s parent company, you’re gonna have a bad day. If I’m the producer of any other like-minded attractions, hopefully, they took the correct path in getting clearance for this so we don’t see good ideas like this spoiled.
"There are also other characters that come and go (also owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate media company)."
Huh. Is that just referring to other characters from the show itself, or is this implying that the new season is going to have cameos from other WBD IPs