U.S. Soccer champ Megan Rapinoe threatened “Red Notice” star and XFL co-owner Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with a cease and desist order, after the league rolled out a new logo last week.
The XFL unveiled a brand identity update on Wednesday, with a Youtube video narrated by Johnson. The “Jumanji” star and a group of investors purchased the bankrupt NFL competitor in 2020, and will relaunch “tomorrow’s league” in Feb. 2023.
“Welp. This is awkward. Only thing @TheRock and @XFL2023 are gonna be cookin up is a response to the Cease and Desist and an ENTIRE new brand ID.” Rapinoe tweeted along with a screencap of the video. “@togethxr got this on [lock] boys.”
The two-time Olympic medalist asserted that the XFL’s “together” campaign, “where passion meets a field of possibility,” is infringing on the intellectual property rights of lifestyle brand TOGETHXR, which was co-founded by her wife, WNBA player Sue Bird, and three other female Olympic athletes.
Bird concurred, that the image from the video “looks familiar” to her company’s logo, and the brand’s official Twitter account confirmed that they have issued a “legal notice” in an effort to “continue to protect the important work” they are doing.
“Too often the work & creativity of women is overlooked & undervalued. Diversity & equality are the norm around here,” TOGETHXR tweeted. “We’re thrilled to see the XFL embrace inclusivity but this rebrand ain’t it.”
Too often the work & creativity of women is overlooked & undervalued.
Diversity & equality are the norm around here. We’re thrilled to see the XFL embrace inclusivity but this rebrand ain’t it. We’ve issued a legal notice & will continue to protect the important work we’re doing pic.twitter.com/QoNAfx4FbK
— TOGETHXR (@togethxr) April 8, 2022
The post also points out that the XFL’s marketing message is similar to the TOGETHXR’s, which was also co-founded by Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim and Simone Manuel.
In the side-by-side images posted by TOGETHXR, their brand features the text: “We got tired of waiting for someone to build it. So we did. Together.” The XFL’s caption reads: “We couldn’t wait for the future, so we built it ourselves. Tomorrow’s league starts today.”
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess?” Wrote USWNT forward Morgan. “Shout out to my team at @togethxr for creating a bad ass brand name, logo, and background story that resonates for so many.”
wpDiscuz
Go away Megan. No one cares. “together” is not a trademarked word, and you are irrelevant at this point anyway.
not the same moron