The cast and creator of Glee have taken this week’s cover of The Hollywood Reporter, and in the interview Glee creator Ryan Murphy lashed out at some of Glee’s critics. Or perceived critics. Apparently, last year Murphy tried to get Kings of Leon to give Glee permission to use the song “Use Somebody”. Kings of Leon refused for whatever reason, and in this interview, Murphy lashes out belatedly:
Glee creator Ryan Murphy is singing a not-so-happy tune about Kings of Leon. Last year, the chart-topping band denied Murphy’s request to use their Grammy-nominated hit “Use Somebody” on the show — a decision that mortally offended Murphy.
“F*** you, Kings of Leon,” Murphy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “They’re self-centered a**holes, and they missed the big picture.”
Charging that the band insulted his FOX smash with a “hate on arts education” message, he continued angrily: “They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.”
In response to Murphy’s rant, Kings of Leon told THR: “This whole Glee thing is a shock to us. It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t even see the show. It came at the end of that record cycle, and we were over promoting [‘Use Somebody’]. This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.”
[From Us Weekly]
Yeah… Team Kings of Leon. There are millions of people who either don’t know about Glee or couldn’t care less about it. I am one of them, I’ll admit. The few times that I’ve watched a few minutes of a show, the whole thing left me annoyed. I like old-school Hollywood musicals too – but I find Glee to be creepy, what with all of the balding 30-somethings pretending to be high schoolers and what with Lea Michele’s face, which I just want to punch. My point is that Ryan Murphy has created a show that many people love, but the show isn’t so overwhelmingly awesome that everyone agrees with his own over-inflated opinion of himself. Not everything is some uber-tragic personal criticism – sometimes, people just have other crap to do and they aren’t thinking about his little show about glorified karaoke.
And regarding music education and all of that – eh. I think it’s nice that Glee is promoting the importance of music education in a time when music programs are being cut all over the country. BUT – shouldn’t the focus be on education overall? How about math and science and history and English?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
yay! i cant stand those a-holes
Psh…who needs math when I can watch Glee instead?!!
(I actually love math.)
Yeah, that was a stupid move and he is getting a lot of backlash for it.
Team KOL!!!
So because KoL doesn’t want to license their music, they’re assholes?
Personal choice, Murphy, quit acting like a little bitch.
jeez, someone is rowing his douche canoe! Fame is not suiting ryan murphy; did he always have such a huge ego or is it because of glee’s success? can he really think that all artists have some kind of moral responsibility to give their songs to the show?
totally wanna punch lea michele’s face in as well….
Team KOL. This made me like them more actually. Glee is overhyped and overrated. It was cool at first, now just lame. I think the versions of the songs they record are heartless. It butchers the originals. I don’t blame kol for not wanting to give them the song. Its THEIR song to do what they want with. Murphy needs an ego check stat.
Besides, Glee is always about how you shouldn’t bully people right? Isnt he bullying KOL calling them names for not giving him their song? What a hypocrite!
Also he’s all “think of the children” and hes cursing and being rude. Classy.
I’m Team No One. I like Glee enough but this makes Ryan Murphy look like an out of touch douchebag. I don’t like KoL personally because they’ve turned into MAJOR assholes recently, but musically, they’re fine and it’s up to them if they want to license or not license their songs. Glee hasn’t suffered one way or the other because of one damn song. Jesus. Zip up your pants, boys. Nothing to see here.
kings of leon are the shit; “glee” not so much.
Wow, looks like a lot of people are having out of the blue d-bag moments. First Judd Apatow reveals himself to be a sensitive pussy, and Ryan Murphy is just sooooo hurt that Kings of Leon didn’t deem it necessary to give the rights to an already very popular song to a show they’re not familiar with after they’re done promoting it. Why is everyone so butt hurt this week?
I read his comeback to Slash’s comment about Glee being worse than Grease, and while I understand he’s the creator and it’s his baby, but did you really expect Slash of all people to be way on board with a show on fox about glee club? Someone thinks too highly of his show. Ive seen it and while I get why people enjoy it, but the hype just blows my mind. It’s not that earthshatteringly great to me.
Shut your face, Ryan Murphy. Team KOL! Can’t stand Glee. That show has ruined plenty of good songs already. And, oh yeah, it’s just a TV show, RM.
he looks like a young malkovich.
Wow inflated sense of self importance much, Ryan Murphy?
Good for Glee if it’s really showing the importance of arts education but he’s really at the point where if you have to say it for people, it’s probably a lot less true than he’d like.
Totally agree about the bullying thing, gabs. I guess he’s a “do as I say, not as I do” kind of guy.
Totally jerky move, lacking all class and professionalism.
1 – anyone who truly supports the arts should also support the artist’s right to choose how their work is used, including the right to decline it appearing on a TV show.
2 – A professional adult would accept their decline and move on to the dozens of others happy to be on the show. Not call names and whine.
3 – the KOL guys are probably younger than half the cast of Glee, we’re not talking about the Rolling Stones or something here. If kids want to see young people singing those songs…they can just watch KOL.
4 – no 7 year old should be watching Glee. I know they like to think of it that way, but the show as a whole is too mature in content for very young kids.
I’ve really been souring on the show lately – I still like most of the singers and the performances are great, but the story is just painfully lacking and annoying. This little hissy fit is only turning me off it even more.
(And really, that Globe should have gone to Modern Family.)
Ryan Murphy needs to get off his soapbox. Dude, its only a TV show. Hardly the foundation of music education on this planet. Get over yourself.
from the begining KOL has tried not to be the next big thing to be overplayed, destroyed and tossed aside by the music industry which is incredibly difficult nowadays. Right after because of the times they took a break to fade into (radio) obscurity. Theyve gotten bigger over time but their early stuff is amazing and I’ve been impressed with their ability to control the fame they’ve recieved. Some people make look at them as assholes, but hasnt everyone gotten to the saturation point with a song where they go from loving it one moment to hating it the next? It’s their music therefore their choice to decide who does what with it, so STFU murphy.
also, i dont buy the music education song and dance. all about the $$$
“You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music”
OH Really? Is that what you do? Cause I think at its heart, what Glee really does is turn kids on (period)!
I use to watch the show and I can’t even stomach it anymore it’s just so gross & over-the-top! I guess you can call me a prude but I’m only 27 and this show made me feel uncomfortable, I like the music part, don’t get me wrong but they had two girls making out on a bed in cheerleading outfits! and not because they were lesbians, just cause they were bored, or whatever Really?!? Yeah that’s very important for the music & arts…I’m not singling out Glee, I know lots of other shows are like that, like the new Skins show, which I have never/will never watch…not interested in seeing high school kids get it on, guess that’s just me though?
Good for Kings of Leon, even tho their music is way over-played on the radio, I’m glad they didn’t sink down to this level.
I’m not familiar with KOL but personally I think Glee ruins a lot of songs with their arrangements.
I have nothing against Glee, but this is ridiculous. It’s not as though any musical artists are obligated to share their music with Ryan Murphy and the Glee cast if they don’t want to. It’s not as though they agreed and then changed their minds (which still probably wouldn’t warrant the kind of reaction Ryan Murphy had). I don’t understand the sense of entitlement here.
GLEE has about as much to do with arts eduction as AMERICAN IDOL. It’s just another Fox cash cow and I hate that they pretend that it’s not. It also has some of the sloppiest writing on television.
Does he really think that his show is appropriate for a seven year old? And what seven year old will look at REAL high school students, let alone this cadre of twentysomethings and identify with them? I’m so over Glee – the only way to watch without wanting to scream is to zip through everything but the musical performances.
I don’t watch Glee often but it seems so hit and miss. The relationships between each character aren’t elaborated upon, it gets boring fast. Murphy’s reaction was very unprofessional, ugh.
I have been a fan of KoL for very long time. I think if they don’t want to give GLEE their songs then it’s ok. I really feel like Ryan Murphy continues to call them out on this because he is trying to back them in a corner and wear them out. Ryan let it go already. DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A DRAMATIC BULLY? They don’t want to be on your show, oh well.
i’ve kinda gone off Kings of Leon lately (I just don’t think their newer stuff is very good) but I’m definitely Team KOL on this one!
Team KOL. I love them & have for much longer than they’ve been famous in the US. I’m glad they didn’t sell out and give a song to Glee – pretty sure that song isn’t appropriate for an audience of 7 yr olds anyway so there goes that argument. Who is Ryan Murphy anyway? And Glee sucks.
I enjoy watching Glee after a long day, because I can stare at the tv and just not think, or I can use it for background noise, but I didn’t realize every artist was required to allow use of their music on the show to prove that they support arts education. Thank you, Ryan Murphy, for enlightening me.
I liked Glee but it’s shit like this that makes me annoyed as fuck at it. Oh no! Someone doesn’t want to let you use their music! That means they MUST hate arts in school. Fucking moron.
Glee has sucked from the first episode. It is such a juvenile show and now we can all see why.
F*#k Ryan Murphy & Glee. The music is the Creation of KOL and why should they let it be bastardized so Murphy’s pockets and ego can get bigger
Team Glee
Something tells me Ryan Murphy and Lea Michele meet once a week over cocktails to come up new and different ways to be irritating dipshits.
Ryan Murphy has his message all mixed up. A 7 year old watches Glee to learn about music? Give me a break. Glee is not for 7 year olds unless you want to confuse the hell out of them about what the two cheerleaders were doing in bed that one episode or what is that painful face the girl with dark hair and bangs makes just about every song happy or sad.
Though the focus of this particular show is not about education especially not Maths, English, Science or History and that’s okay. But from an international stand point the US is not behind in singers, musicians (classical maybe) or actors so why the big push for “the arts”. They are behind in maths, science and reading comprehension.
I don’t understand how Glee promotes music education any more than, say, Grey’s Anatomy promotes biology education. I’ve only seen the show a couple times and had to stop because I was cringing too much, but prancing around onstage to Britney Spears bears little resemblance to the actual music education I got in high school. I highly, highly doubt this show is making orchestra cool across the country.
So anyway, it annoys me when they pull that card like they’re the greatest show on earth because they are doing SUCH a public service to the world.
Bottom line, it is Kings of Leon’s song and they have every right to say no to Glee’s use of it. Mr. Murphy just showed his ignorance and true colors. Glee is getting so stupid anyway.
I love love love Glee… but I don’t think 7 year old’s should be watching. Kind of inappropriate content for that age.
So Glee is an educational show? Pity it couldn’t take time out from promoting musical education to promote a little respect for musicians and THEIR right to decide what the hell is done with THEIR music.
Never seen the show OR listened to Kings Of Leon, but for some people, music is more than just a bit of fun, more than a bit of camp entertainment. Some people may not want their emotional expression and their hard-earned craft to be infantilised. This guy needs a smack round the head with the Get A Grip stick, and to stop believing his own hype.
Team Kings Of Leon, totally.
Glee reminds me of those obnoxious Kids Bop albums. Awful.
@Vi: “jeez, someone is rowing his douche canoe!” LOL!
I wouldn’t want my music of glee either, out of the fact that Glee is pure crap. Not everyone likes Glee, and I personally dislike it.
sounds like Murphy is the self-center a**hole, the closest I have come to watching Glee is there promos and that’s more than enough for me!
Team Glee.
If they were truly interested in promoting “Use Somebody” then they would have let Glee use it.
I’m no “Gleek” but a friend of mines ipod is literally 90% songs she originally heard on Glee then downloaded it by the real artist.
That’s how I discover alot of good songs/artists too.
Wow a fight between a crappy band and a truly crappy show…
is there anyway I could care less about this?
Murphy sweetie, it seems as though you have gotten a little to big for your britches. Now, go find another sandbox to play in!
My daughter loves music and she’s never even seen Glee. She sings in the church choir, is learning the piano, and listens, sings, and dances to music daily, all without watching a show that has showcased teen pregnancy, teen sex, cheating, lying, gay-bashing, and tons of other things I wouldn’t want my kid to be exposed to yet.
Yeah, I watch Glee sometimes and I think it’s a funny show, mostly thanks to Jane Lynch, but they aren’t teaching my kid crap about music education. I’ll do that on my own, thanks.
I don’t know much about music licensing, but ‘Use Somebody’ was sung on The Sing-Off as a group ballad at the beginning of one of the shows. Seems to me that KOL would have had to give permission for that. I actually do like Glee (I’m not crazy for it though) but this made him look like a diva and a catty bitch. The creator seems pissed that he went after a song, got told no, and then KOL told someone else YES.
Ya some episodes of Glee are boring and some of the songs suck, but the show has some fun moments to watch, only b/c of Jane Lynch.
As for KoL . . . ummmm ya they were cool years ago, but now their songs are all generic pieces of shit.
If he wanted to make a point about promoting music, then promote music that you can’t hear on multiple commercials! And FYI- maybe KOL didn’t want to be associated with hack crap. I sure don’t blame them. Glee and the like water down everything to a freaking Kids Bop album and enough is enough.
@connie: The older KOL work is pretty intense. If anything, I like their newer music far less.
As is their background and I’d encourage any fan to read some articles about them as it’s pretty insane. Yes, they may seem douchier now but it’s because they’re no longer the teenage kids of a traveling preacher.
We chilled with them at a Lollapalooza show and my now-ex hubby jammed with them.
Though I can’t speak for them, my guess is that they don’t want to license their song for some crappy tv show. Good for them.
huh.
that song, my ex recorded, at their Toronto concert last year, for me.
EX. *sigh*
still love the song, and KOL.
Ryan Murphy’s comment was rude, however KOL’s response was homophobic and that makes it worse.
@Rachel: Homophobic what??
I find it curious that Brian Murphy can pick and choose which artists and actors he selects to showcase on GLEE but it is not Okay for the Kings of Leons to decide how they would like their music showcased. Can Brian spell E-G-O??????
I guess the word or the act of bullying only applies if it is done to the Gay community. What a hypocrite!!!!!
At Kim: couldn’t agree more!
At Rachel: What in the world was homophobic about their statement? Seriously, what are you reading?
How is KOL response homophobic…??
@Lucy2: Agree!
ITA Tracy8051I just read about a couple of masturbation scenes on the show involving Finn in hot tub and Jacob in library. I don’t have kids but do the Gleeks with young kids watch the show first before letting 8 and 9 y.o. watch. Just asking?
@ rachel
clarify. what exactly about the response is homophobic?
I am genuinely puzzled.
@ Roma and @The_Porscha, Rachel’s comment was probably in reference to this tweet:
http://twitter.com/doctorfollowill/status/30293434111623168
Although he does apologize:
http://twitter.com/doctorfollowill
I hate Glee. I cant wait for the hype to die down. Ryan Murphy sucks and what he did to the film adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love deserves for him to be smacked in the face.
I thought the first season of Glee was cute- they focused on the characters relationships, Jane Lynch was so funny, and the songs were pretty standard pop stuff. Then somebody, probably this jackwipe Ryan Murphy, got all full of his own self importance and decided to have “meaningful” and “important” shows, and they sucked. They just sucked. Madonna? Gaga? Goopy? Let’s just keep shoving the biggest ego’s in Hollywood down your throat, and then we’ll move on to the “message” shows. Way to jump the shark Ryan Murphy- maybe after you’re cancelled you’ll have time to write more of those “important” social pieces for the Huffington Post. Can’t wait. Wish I was as enlightened and forward thinking as you. What a turd.
“Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go,” Followill wrote. “See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say f—.
dear drummer of KOL,
ryan murphy’s response to your band’s choice of turning down glee is unprofessional and immature–no doubt about that. HOWEVER, your reaction to his response is ignorant, so stop being a dumb homophobe, you fat-headed mouth breathing ass goblin.
Kaiser–to catch up in a good way, go to gleesucks.com
Hilarious and DEAD-ON as to how and why Glee is so terrible.
gleesuck.com guys.
I am in no way affiliated with them. I just really like it.
Okay now I take back my support of KOL in the situation. Close minded jokes are not amusing.
I know I got valuable education watching Nip&Tuck ,Ryan, thanks!
Now here’s a slice of gouda to go with that whine.
Team Punch Lea Michele in the Face!!!
Which Glee “teen” actor is balding? I can’t think of one. Do you mean Mark with the mohawk?
Anyway, I think people will be watching and listening to Glee reruns for a long long time just to enjoy the music and dancing.
No need for either side to be rude.
Team Punch Lea Michele in the Face here too!
KoL > Glee, hands down
Team KOL!!!!!!
Murphy comes across a an entitled jerk
Nathan Followill’s tweet/response wasn’t homophobic at all. if murphy’s gonna act like a little whiny girl, he’s gonna get treated like one.
I don’t think the drummer was so much bashing the Glee guy for being gay so much as saying he is acting like a woman..I don’t know which one is less offensive to me.
i loved KoL for like 8 years, when you could see them in tiny tiny little gigs, they’re not so good now but getting gleeked would have been the final nail in the coffin.
hes acting like he entitled to use any artists song under the notion of “art education” as if anyone who rejects it is rejecting kids???…….DOUCHE
Glee isnt even that good and whether a KoL fan or not, they are perfectly entitled to say no. It’s not like they went out and bashed Glee.
let’s see ryan murphy try and get some serious bands on there eg radiohead and have a bitch about it because they say no. Not everyone wants to sell out and “gleek” their music
oh and the only person here who is a “self-centered who missed the big picture” is ryan murphy.
Not everyones world revolves around glee
Damon Albarn also publicly (and I guess pre-emptively) stated that his music won’t ever be used on the show. He is very much pro-arts education.
Its up to musicians in any event to decide how their music is used. The way this reads you’d swear someone swooped into the highschool glee club and shut down an amateur production.
Never was a fan of the show or understood it’s broad appeal.
He looks a little bit like Gunther from Friends.
i’ve watched quite a few episodes of glee, which includes subjects like teen pregnancy, infidelity, drug use and gay bashing. and while i find the musical segments of the show entertaining, i have yet to see an episode that is even remotely acceptable for my seven year old. seriously?! that statement creeps me out enough to unfollow.
So Intellectual Property law exists just to be sideswiped by a normative argument that something the artist has created should be handed over without discretion so long as it’s (questionably)for the geater good and someone gets paid? As an IP lawyer I find his understanding of moral rights hysterical..
and Glee is not for seven year olds.. can’t wait for it to run it’s course..
Glee is turning stale already. All the storylines were done on Popular ten years ago and were ten times funnier. And Ryan Murphy is starting to beleive his own hype- get down from your high horse please!
I don’t even know the song ‘Use Somebody’.
Meh. So many bands come and go these days, who’d really care about their song to have such a hissy fit. Um, yeah, a campy producer/creator/moron.
meh.
@Kaiser: Totally agree with your article 100%.
Not a Glee fan, I tried to watch it once and I lasted about 1 minute. Ugh.
Team KoL all the way with this one.
Oh and lots of musicians/bands aren’t letting Glee play their music, not just KoL. Murphy needs to get down off that high horse, he’s not god. *shrug*
Glee is gross and mind-numbing.
Kings of Leon ARE assholes. Don’t care for Glee, but I care for Kings of Leon even less (plus I think their music is boring).
My case in point (A blog by half of Groove Armada, on KoL): http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=67939&st=0
I love how the entitled ahole acts like it was a slant against the poor 7 year old children and not his ego.
Love Glee, but Ryan is a douche. A mysogynistic douche. A woman-hating douche (if you don’t know what mysogynistic means).
Nip/Tuck was absolutely horrible in its portrayal of women, and Glee is no different.
This douchebag deserves zero, ZERO sympathy.
Ryan is acting like a spoiled rotten 5 yr old who didnt get his way. They didnt want you to use their song – get over it!
I agree with Kim (# 85). I’d like to add that Murphy talks as if having a song performed in Glee is the biggest honor one could ever have. Give me a break!
I’m not a Kings of Leon fan (don’t think I ever took the time to listen to them), but I can talk about how much I hate Glee.
Oh, and even after making the choice of not watching it (after I had the stupid idea of checking what Laineygossip was so excited about), I’m forced to see it anyway because the (paid) channel that airs it here in Brazil wants to make sure EVERYBODY will listen to/see at least one song because they show really long ass tv commercials featuring some of their numbers entirely, not only 1 minute of them (and sometimes more than once during one single commercial break — it’s revolting!!!).
I hate it, hate it! I try everything I can to escape it: switch the channel (sometimes I’m watching The Simpsons — it’s aired on Fox Entertainment Television here), I put on mute, but I can still see the dumbass coreographies.
let’s be real. math, science, history and english aren’t going anywhere. no need for concern.
Fishsticks anyone??
his ego could be the next to Kanye……..
Glee has its funny moments, the drama is overdone and the whole Jane Lynch thing just needs removed from the show altogether. Jane is just creepy and totally revolting. All the gay crap should be removed as well. I might even watch it again if the writers tried a little harder to make the show family friendly instead of just so overly repulsive and revolting that I physically felt like I could hurl during some episodes. I know the show is about incredibly stupid people that live in Ohio. I am not from Ohio but if I where, I would feel totally offended that they can’t find one bright spot in the whole show.