Beyoncé Sued Over Allegedly Unauthorized ‘Alien Superstar’ Sample

Beyoncé Sued Over Allegedly Unauthorized ‘Alien Superstar’ Sample

Beyoncé is facing a new lawsuit over one of the tracks from her Grammy-winning Renaissance album.

According to TMZ, Hirose Enterprise and producer Shuji Hirose have sued the superstar and several music companies, accusing them of using an unauthorized sample on her 2022 song “Alien Superstar.”

The lawsuit reportedly centers around “Moonraker,” a song performed by John Holiday. Hirose Enterprise claims a spoken-word portion of the track was sampled for the introduction of “Alien Superstar” without the proper permission.

According to the suit, Beyoncé’s team later obtained permission from Holiday to use the material. However, Hirose alleges Holiday had already transferred his rights to the song decades earlier and therefore did not have the authority to approve the sample.

Hirose Enterprise also claims Beyoncé’s company was notified about the alleged copyright issue but continued to sell and profit from the music.

The plaintiffs are reportedly seeking unspecified damages as well as an injunction that could prevent Beyoncé and the other defendants from continuing to profit from the allegedly infringing material.

Beyoncé has not publicly responded to the lawsuit as of this report.