JELLO BIAFRA Sues DEAD KENNEDYS For "Impersonation"

March 27, 2002

Ex-DEAD KENNEDYS singer Jello Biafra is suing his former bandmates for allegedly recording new music and performing live with a “Biafra impersonator” (DR. KNOW's Brandon Cruz) at the microphone.

Biafra — whose birth name is Eric Reed Boucher — sued his former bandmates for misrepresenting themselves by leading promoters to believe that Biafra is performing on the recent DEAD KENNEDYS tour by using his image in photos promoting the gigs.

“I don't object to them playing cover versions of the songs,” Biafra said in a statement. “Anybody has a right to do that. But they've engaged in deliberate bait-and-switch tactics. We've had witnesses report that [Cruz] was imitating my voice and stage moves rather than what he did in DR. KNOW. And their agent was very evasive about who was and who was not in the band.”

Biafra is asking for punitive and compensatory damages of more than $25,000 from the three remaining original DEAD KENNEDYS, including Ray Pepperell (aka East Bay Ray),Geoffrey Lyall (aka Klauss Flouride),and Darren Henley (aka D.H. Peligro).

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).