Paddington Is a Podcaster Now, and His Makers Aren’t Happy

StudioCanal and the estate of author Michael Bond have launched a High Court lawsuit against the British production company Avalon following a Spitting Image YouTube sketch that reimagined Paddington Bear as a cocaine-snorting podcast host.

According to a report from Deadline, the suit says that Spitting Image’s The Rest Is Bulls*!t parody of Paddington infringes on copyright and design rights held by the lovable bear’s rights holders. There are no details yet on any damages sought.

In the offending episode of the satirical sketch show, written and performed by Al Murray and Matt Forde, the marmalade-muncher appears alongside a caricature of Prince Harry, dishing up tips like “make sure your bong is dishwasher-safe” and even suggesting Harry give his wife, Meghan, some heroin to relax while remarking, “There’s never a frown with Mrs. Brown.”

The satirical version of Paddington also notes, “I am from Peru, motherfuckers – I am Paddington Bear from Peru! You most likely remember me from the films Paddington, Paddington 2 and Paddington in Peru. I also had a starring role in the Netflix series Narcos, as Pablo Escobear. It is a joke. Laugh, muchachos.”

It’s clear that Paddington’s current makers aren’t laughing. The complaint from StudioCanal and Bond’s estate suggests that this particular portrayal of the bear has crossed a line by flipping the family-friendly character into a twisted, foul-mouthed version of the iconic duffel coat botherer.

Neither Avalon nor StudioCanal has publicly commented on these legal proceedings yet, but the case could raise questions about how far is too far, legally speaking. British law currently makes “an exception to copyright that permits people to use limited amounts of copyright material without the owner’s permission for the purpose of parody, caricature or pastiche” but “this exception only permits use for the purposes of caricature, parody, or pastiche to the extent that it is fair dealing.”

Perhaps, then, we will find out how fair-dealing this spin on Paddington is, although we can all agree that making him a podcaster is simply beyond the pale.

Kirsten Howard co-hosts The Good Bad Movie Show podcast.