As you may have heard, Angelina Jolie seems to be going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. Almost all of the tabloids were ablaze over the weekend with news that she and husband Brad Pitt were on the fast train to Splitsville, USA, news which the couple’s spokespeople quickly dismissed as rumor. But now, it seems as though Angelina Jolie may be embroiled in another scandal, albeit one that’s significantly less tempestuous.
You see, sometime yesterday, Angelina Jolie and her brother posted a video tribute on YouTube to their late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, on the three-year anniversary of her death (the video has since been pulled down). The video consisted of touching footage from a trip the three of them took to Hawaii in 1981 and was scored with Israel “Iz†Kamakawiwo‘ole’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow†(yes, the same one you hear during the PowerPoint “Look at how we fell in love!†portion of every single rehearsal dinner you’ve attended in the last five years and yes, the same one that Vulture bestie Dan Kois wrote a totally awesome book about). What was stunning about the video was how intimate and personal it was, which are two things you rarely see coming from the tightly controlled Brangelina camp.
However, around 10:45 this morning (when we were originally writing this post up), the soundtrack of the video changed. The original YouTube posting credited Kamakawiwo‘ole and even instructed viewers that the song was available for download in the iTunes store, but for some reason, the soundtrack got swapped out for a generic piece of instrumental music so bland that it would’ve even made George Winston ralph. Then, just fifteen minutes later, the entire video was removed from YouTube.
During its brief time online, the video racked up some 310,000 views, so we’re just going to assume for the time being that someone in the late Kamakawiwo‘ole’s camp got wind that their song was being used by a multimillionaire movie star without the proper rights being negotiated first. We have no idea whether a financial settlement will be forthcoming, but we’ll certainly keep you posted. In the meantime, you can bet that this will be the last time Angelina Jolie will post anything to YouTube. Did you hear that, Vimeo guys? Strike while the iron is hot!
Angelina Jolie and brother post touching video tribute to late mother on YouTube [Daily Mail UK]