Hip-hop group OutKast has settled a Detroit lawsuit with civil rights icon Rosa Parks so the group can use the name as the title of a song.
Parks, 92, a black woman who refused in 1955 to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, sued OutKast in 1999, saying its song, "Rosa Parks" defamed her and violated her right of privacy.
The lyrics do not name Parks but contain the lines "Ah ha, hush that fuss/Everybody move to the back of the bus."
Under the settlement, OutKast, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and subsidiary labels, Arista and LaFace, will pay for several educational programs, including a tribute CD, and a broadcast television special about Parks, the New York Times reported Friday. The TV special will be issued on DVD and given to thousands of schools around the country.
Lawyers for various parties said Thursday that, "The living and health needs of Mrs. Parks, who is 92 years old, will be secure under the settlement."
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
