So Prismo got recast in the Fionna and Cake show cuz Kumail Nanjiani's agents didn't let him know the crew was trying to get him back to reprise the role
I remember back in 2011 there was a little flap caused when Weird Al put out his song “Perform This Way” for free online because Lady Gaga had denied permission to put it on his album (permission he never needed, but always got anyway). He’d been asked to supply not just lyrics but a recorded version before being denied, hence putting it out online. Fans of both artists were surprised and upset by this news.
One Weird Al fan who was massively surprised by all this was Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga. It turns out that her manager had been the one handling the situation and never actually played the song for her. She quickly OK’ed it, and the song was still the lead-off single for the Alpocalypse.
And just makes me wonder how many of these “we actually asked but your team said no without consulting you” things happen.
This also reminds me of the Gary Larson/Jane Goodall thing, where Gary Larson (the guy who does “The Far Side”, of “Cow Tools” fame) put out the following comic:
TLDR version: The Jane Goodall Institute was not amused, and bugged Larson to pull it from publication… But Goodall herself saw it when she got back from the research trip she’d been on, thought it was HILARIOUS, and let the PR people who made the decision HAVE IT for giving him grief about it without consulting her first, before giving Larson the go-ahead herself; as a result, it got to go back into print. She even signed a copy of it for him!
One of my favorite stories, tbh.
I have heard of MANY similar stories. Especially since the strikes began. It turns out that many actors want to do indie movies, and ask their reps about it. The indie movies want them, and contact the reps. The reps refuse and never tell the actors about it.
I have also seen a situation where an author of colour wanted a certain director of colour to adapt her book, and the director also wanted to adapt the book, and both asked their agents to contact the other side… both agents returned, over and over again, for YEARS, with “refusals” from the other party. Only when they met at an event and both hesitatingly broached the subject did they find out the truth.
The Goodall story is slightly more complicated than that.
Larson got a scathing letter from the Jane Goodall society. He sent an apology, and that was that, until a few years later, when National Geographic was doing an issue dedicated to Dr. Goodall. They asked Larson if they could use the comic and he went "I would ordinarily say yes, but she was pissed about it." And they went "we know her better than that. We'll call her," and called her. And she said "hold on I have to scream at someone but yes, I freakin' loved it."
