Bill Murray may be in hot water for his unlicensed use of The Doobie Brother’s song Listen to the Music after receiving a highly sarcastic legal threat from the band’s lawyers.
A lawyer for the ’70s rock band The Doobie Brothers has sent a cease and desist letter to beloved actor Bill Murray for his use of their 1972 track Listen to the Music in advertisements for his William Murray line of golf clothing.
Generally, legal threats of this nature would be strongly worded, intimidating documents; but in classic ’70s slacker style, this particular legal threat takes a much more comedic tone.
The letter, written by The Doobie Brothers’ lawyer Peter T. Paterno and shared by The Hollywood Reporter’s Eriq Gardner on Twitter, is filled with puns, swipes at some of Murray’s questionable career choices, and comparisons to US President Donald Trump.
“It seems the only person who uses our clients’ music without permission more than you do is Donald Trump,” the letter states, going on to claim that Murray has earned himself eternal damnation for his role in the 2004 family flick Garfield, and that the band would be ok with the use of their song if Murray’s clothing line wasn’t “so damn ugly.”
According to the letter, the dispute is over advertisements for the Zero Hucks Given golf shirt, a blue camo polo shirt with nods to the classic literary character Huckleberry Finn. We can confirm it is not the most stylish golf shirt going around (what’s with the fern leaves?).
Bill Murray has been running William Murray Golf with his brothers since 2016. His latest film, the Sofia Copala-directed On The Rocks, is set for release on Apple TV+ October 2nd.
At this point, neither Murray nor a representative for William Murray Golf has publicly responded to the letter, which you can read in full below.
