Two years ago music producers Swizz Beatz and Timbaland regained control of their music battle web series, “Verzuz”. They filed a lawsuit against the Triller platform for failure to pay them $18 million for Verzuz.
By that time, Verzuz had fallen off in popularity.
In September 2022 Swizz and Timbaland reached a settlement with Triller that saw them regain control of Verzuz.
Now Swizz and Timbaland are facing backlash for reviving Verzuz on Elon Musk’s X/Twitter platform.
Swizz and Timbaland secured a distribution deal with Musk that gives them 100% ownership of Verzuz, while Musk gets distribution rights.
“Not only are we excited to have Verzuz on X, we’re excited to help X build the biggest entertainment company in the world,” Swizz said in a statement on Wednesday. “We can’t wait to get back to work.”
Timbaland said he’s thrilled to expand their viewership on X/Twitter, which has over 300 million active monthly users. Viewers will be able to watch Verzuz for free.
“Our goal has always been to bring Verzuz to the world which we can now do bigger than ever,” he said.
Roland S. Martin questioned the partnership on his “Unfiltered” podcast. Martin noted that Verzuz was created by Black people to celebrate Black culture.
“And it’s going to now be distributed on a platform owned by a man from South Africa who after he bought it, re-platformed white supremacists,” Martin said.
“This is the same Elon Musk who consistently promotes, retweets, and responds to racist content,” he continued. “This is the same Elon Musk who questions the intellectual ability of Black pilots. The same Elon Musk who questions intellectual capability of Black doctors. The same Elon Musk who frequently attacks DEI.”
Martin then asked Swizz and Timbaland, “So is this what we mean by doing it for the culture in 2024?”
?Verzuz, which is all about #TheCulture, features Black people and Black artists celebrating Black culture is going to be distributed by a company owned by Musk, who consistently promotes, retweets & responds to racist content ? #RolandMartinUnfiltered pic.twitter.com/6AGhBelpy8
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) June 20, 2024
