Beloved furry green mascot could waddle off field for good
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What’s wackier than spraying a sportscaster with Silly String or dumping a bucket of popcorn over a sports reporter? Shooting hot dogs into the stand? Getting into a hip hop dance-off with an angry umpire?
That the phabulously phamous Phillie Phanatic could be a free agent next year.
Such is the heart of a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Philadelphia Phillies, now in a tiff over rights with the pair that in 1978 created the league’s notoriously hilarious mascot over a contract set to expire in 2020.
Bonnie Erickson and Wayde Harrison registered the mascot’s copyright in 1979 and licensed the Phanatic to the Phillies in 1984. They told ABC Action News this week that they were in the processing of negotiations with the team when the Phillies suddenly sued.
In a statement to the news station, the artists say they’re disappointed and that “(a)t the Phillies request more than 40 years ago, we created the Phanatic, giving him a story and a life. Over the decades since, we have taken care of him, even patching him back together when he needed it. While we very much want the Phanatic to remain the Phillies mascot, we will not yield to this lawsuit tactic.”
The Phillies, in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Aug. 2, are asking for declaratory judgments affirming their rights and are suing the creators of the Phanatic claiming unjust enrichment and breach of good faith.
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