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The Santo Gold Vs. Santogold Lawsuit
Fans of this site know that Santo Gold was the creative force behind an incredibly strange 1980’s infomercial that both sold a gold jewelry business opportunity and promoted a “space wrestling” movie called Blood Circus.
Better known is the musician Santogold (born Santi White) whose album made the Billboard charts this year.
It appears that the “original” Santo Gold, whose real name is Santo Victor Rigatuso, did not think that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. On June 17, 2008, Rigatuso filed suit in US Southern District Court of New York to prevent Santi White from using the name Santogold.
The website Stereogum has this very informative post about the Santo Gold lawsuit. (Funniest line: “I think we can all agree it’s definitely Santogold that is the biggest obstacle to Santo Gold’s future in entertainment.”) The post says the information comes from a 20 page complaint from the Lustigman Firm, P.C.
You might also want to read this post from ChartAttack.
Also there is a poorly written press release about the Santo Gold suit floating around the Web. The press release doesn’t indicate who released it or provide contact information—which is kind of the whole point of a press release!
We will try to keep you informed on the progress of this monumental event in entertainment law. I just hope that members of the jury will be given free scream bags.
Also, Rigatuso has put out a song called “I am the Real Santo Gold.” The following video shows 17 seconds of the movie Blood Circus before proceeding with the song:
It looks like someone’s pissed about his name being stolen!
Frankly, I wish Rigatuso would forget about the lawsuit and about making music and instead work to get the movie Blood Circus properly released and distributed on DVD! There is A LOT of pent up demand from people who have heard about Blood Circus for 20 years and are dying to see it for themselves. I think a company like Something Weird Video would be very interested in properly manufacturing and promoting a film like Blood Circus. It would be a (wrestling) match made in heaven!
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Comments
6 Responses to “The Santo Gold Vs. Santogold Lawsuit”
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Comment by Kyle Varnell on July 19, 2008 at 12:52 am
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well, like his site says,
“THERE CAN ONLY BE ONLY 1 ELVIS PRESLEY, 1 WALT DISNEY, 1 EIMSTEIN, 1 HUDANI, AND JUST 1 SANTO GOLD!”Comment by J on July 21, 2008 at 11:59 am
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And santogold.com has another update… This time, a talent contest! Very Santo Goldy in every way, right down to wanting your credit card number. I’m enjoying every chapter of the epic life of this remarkable man.
Comment by Tim on August 4, 2008 at 11:18 pm
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America’s Got Talent? American Idol? Forget them! I’m taking my talent and going for the Gold!
Thanks for the update, Tim. I am also enjoying the second coming of Santo Gold very much. It’s almost as entertaining as the first.
Comment by Paul Lucas on August 5, 2008 at 10:48 am
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This is a great song. I’ve listened to it for at least 10 times over the last 2 hours and still counting.
I wonder how Bob Dylan could be the icon that he is, while the USA ignored someone as talented as Santo Gold.
May God bless Santo Gold (the real one, of course!)
Comment by znkp on August 5, 2008 at 5:00 pm
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I was a member of the post-punk band Santo Gold from Kansas. We received a cease and desist letter from Mr. Rigatuso. The band was in the process of breaking-up so there wasn’t much discussion about it. A few years later, a fan of ours put a live video up on YouTube and it was promptly ripped down after a complaint by Mr. Rigatuso. Since then, a fansite was put up on MySpace and that was promptly ripped down after a complaint from Santi White (most likely her record label). I wish the original and the new Santo Gold would embark on an ad campaign of epic proportions. I would love to see that guy hawking Converse or Rockstar Energy Drink along with Santi gyrating to the beat of his excellent rhyming skills. SANTO GOLD! SANTOGOLD! Can’t you hear the difference? SANTO GOLD! SANTOGOLD! Taste the excitement!
Comment by SG on August 20, 2008 at 11:05 am
Ahh, Mr. Rigatuso provides so much entertainment. “Spent millions on my name!”? I suppose those millions he’s talking about spending on the “Santo Gold Brand” is the $2 million it cost to make Blood Circus.
Perhaps he’s suing SantoGold and making songs in prep for a re-launch of Blood Circus.
Until such a time I’ll have to be content with the Santo Gold infomercial and other SG clips.
BTW: Is Mr. Rigatuso so delusional that he thinks that nobody can tell the difference between an R&B singer and a Muammar al-Gaddafi look-alike?