The band regains control following a lawsuit against Chris Cornell’s widow
Soundgarden has regained temporary control over its website and social media accounts, following a lawsuit with former singer Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky Cornell.
The band’s surviving members — Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, and Ben Shepherd — and their managers at Red Light Management — have regained control of the band’s website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts as of June 15th, following a lawsuit against Vicky Cornell.
“The agreement marks a productive first step towards healing and open dialogue, and the parties wish for the social media accounts to celebrate the Band’s accomplishments and music while continuing to honor Chris’ legacy,” a representative for both parties says.
Last year, Soundgarden filed suit in US District Court of the Southern District of Florida, Miami against Vicky, claiming she took control of the group’s social media accounts without their permission, and “removed fan comments, and has herself posted images and comments to publicly accessible band social media pages. Some of those postings by Vicky Cornell are intended to denigrate the band and surviving band members.”
The lawsuit also accused Vicky of “fraudulent inducement” over money from a 2019 tribute concert for her husband — in which the surviving band members performed for free and for the first time together since Cornell took his own life in 2017 at the age of 52 — for her own use instead of the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation like it was intended. That part of the lawsuit was later dropped after two causes of action related to their allegations of fraud over the show were dismissed.
Earlier this year, Cornell filed suit against the band for royalties she felt they were withholding. A judge ruled against Cornell claiming there wasn’t enough evidence that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of royalties from the Chris Cornell fronted group were withheld.
The group and Cornell are still in litigation over ownership of unreleased audio recordings.
