Emboldened by the example of Kim Novak—who bravely came forward to report being raped by The Artist, thereby showing other famous people who have witnessed the appropriation of musical works they don’t actually own that, no, they don’t have to suffer in silence or use rational analogies—Courtney Love has similarly blown the “rape” whistle on last year's The Muppets for its use of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” without so much as asking her permission. According to TMZ, “Love believes “Kermit the Frog and his gang of Muppet friends ‘raped’ the memory of her ex-husband Kurt Cobain"—a memory that was formerly pristine and virginal under Love's guardianship, but which now lies bruised and ashamed, no matter how fervently Love whispers to the memory of Kurt Cobain that shhhh, it’s not his fault The Muppets failed to secure the proper licensing from her.
Of course, TMZ is demonstrating a reprehensible “blame the victim” mentality here, callously pointing out that, actually, Love sold half of her rights to Cobain’s catalog to Primary Wave Music, and that this company not only approved the use of the song, but it also secured the approval of the song's co-writers Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl (who even cameos in the film, thus acting as an accomplice). They imply that because Courtney Love’s memory of Kurt Cobain is so dazed and out of it, it was just asking for something like this to happen—continuing the cycle of abuse by covering it up with things like "perspective" and "facts." Nevertheless, we can only hope that Courtney Love’s memory of Kurt Cobain somehow finds the strength to put the experience of being raped by The Muppets behind it, so she can help it resume a normal, healthy life of being prostituted.
