Authentic Brands Group. Remember this name because they “ain’t no friend of mine” and they are coming for your joy.
The licensing company that oversees the estates of icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Mohammad Ali, has made a drastic decision that could potentially destroy an entire sacred category of American kitsch: the Las Vegas Elvis-themed wedding.
A number of Las Vegas chapels have received cease and desist letters from Authentic Brands Group, demanding operators of chapels to stop the usage of Elvis Presley’s “name, likeness, voice, image and other elements of Elvis Presley’s persona in advertisements, merchandise and otherwise.”
This means no more Elvis weddings — or should I say, Elvis impersonators have left the chapel.
Sure, there will still be “The King” impersonators — a protected activity in Vegas — but the $2 billion wedding industry the city has relied on for so long will take a major hit, since Elvis-themed weddings account for a large portion of the city’s annual wedding totals.
This could be a devastating shock to the local wedding industry, which was just getting back on track after the 2020 shutdowns (not to mention the emotional damage for our inner romantics).
So what does an Elvis fan with upcoming nuptials do? Who’s to say? I just know that “We can’t go on together, with suspicious minds.”
I guess we face a dark future of weddings without fake Elvises (or is that Elvi?). Sure, there will be ” rock ‘n’ roll ” themed weddings, but it’ll never be the same without The King.
TMZ has more on the story in this video: