Can Rockstar Energy Drink Distance Themselves from Michael Savage?

Rockstar has taken a page out of the Scientology handbook by threatening to sue anyone who makes a connection between Rockstar and Michael Alan Weiner AKA Michael Savage. The good news to all of this is that it demonstrates the economic pitfalls of bigotry towards the gay community. The bad news is that Rockstar Energy Drink seems more intent on managing the truth than managing the situation.

Michael Savage:

One of the problems in writing about Michael Savage is trying to select from an over-abundance of hateful statements he has made towards the GLBT community. Savage seems to be obsessed with something that he calls the "homosexual mafia." Among his more vitriolic outbursts was the one that reportedly caused him to be terminated by MSNBC. Savage responded to a caller to say:

Oh, so you're one of those sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig; how's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig? You got nothing better to do than to put me down, you piece of garbage? You got nothing to do today? Go eat a sausage, and choke on it. Get trichinosis. Now do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today? Put another, put another sodomite on....no more calls?...I don't care about these bums; they mean nothing to me. They're all sausages.

Here are some other gems, courtesy of MediaMatters:

You want me to tell you what makes me sick? When I see two puffy white males kissing each other, I want to puke. When I see two women kissing each other, on the lips, as lovers, I want to vomit."

When you hear "human rights," think only one thing: someone who wants to rape your son. And you'll get it just right. OK, you got it, right? When you hear "human rights," think only someone who wants to molest your son, and send you to jail if you defend him. Write that down, make a note of it."

Rockstar Energy Drink:

Rockstar Energy Drink was founded in 2001 by Russell Weiner, Michael Weiner Savage's son and Jonathan Jacobs. Janet Weiner, Savage's wife is the corporation's Chief Financial Officer. The drink is a combination of flavors, caffeine sugar and herbs including panax ginseng and ginko biloba. Rockstar has marketed the drink with claims that it is "scientifically formulated to speed the recovery time of those who lead active and exhausting lifestyles - from athletes to rock stars."

Reportedly, the connection was referenced on the company's website where Savage was cited as the drink's co-developer. Not only has that been removed from the website, but Rockstar has managed to delete all of its content from archive.org, a site that maintains a historical library of web sites. I would argue that this action serves to confirm the reference.

Rockstar claims that Michael Savage has no formal involvement in the company and stresses the fact that Rockstar is a corporation, not an individual.

In order to try to distance themselves from the controversy, the company has created a website, truthaboutrockstar.com. However, even there, they highlight the nutrional expertise of Michael Savage and his wife.

… the Weiner family launched an extensive study of native nutrition around the world. Michael Weiner earned his Doctorate degree in Epidemiology and Nutritional Ethnomedicine from the University of California at Berkeley after receiving his Masters degrees in Medical Botany and Medical Anthropology. Together Michael and Janet have authored or co-authored nearly two dozen books on health and nutrition, published in more than ten nations.

To the best of my knowledge, Rockstar has never made any statement that condemns the hate-speech of Michael Savage. The primary issue is whether or not Michael Savage has an economic benefit from the sales of Rockstar Energy Drink. With respect to Savage's involvement, wo questions remain unanswered:

Does Michael Savage own stock, options or warrants in Rockstar Energy Drink? An equity interest could have considerable value at some time in the future if the company is sold or goes public. The potential value of an equity interest correlates directly to Rockstar's revenues and earnings.
Does Michael Savage receive a royalty from the sales of the drink?

Why would gays, their family and friends purchase a product if some of the proceeds wind up in the pocket of a radical homophobic bigot?

Recently, Rockstar threatened to sue the Bilerico Project, a GLBT website. According to Bilerico:

Change.org LGBT editor Michael Jones wrote the original guest post for us that upset Rockstar's legal team. Michael, Change.org owner Ben Rattray, and I have been negotiating with the energy drink's management to move the company forward on LGBT issues and encourage them to condemn Savage's hateful speech. While there have been a few hiccups along the way, I can easily say that the company is remorseful for their stupid lawyer's threatening tactics and wants to make good with the LGBT community.

Look for an announcement next week hopefully.

I am less than optimistic. I would be more pleased to be wrong than right. Furthermore, I am distrustful of clients who blame their lawyers. That usually doesn't make sense. An ironic component to all of this is the role of PepsiCo. Pepsi recently acquired the master distribution contract that was previously held by Coca Cola. Pepsi is the object of one of American Family Association's silly boycotts for being too gay friendly.