Convicted Pedophile Gary Glitter Will Not Receive Royalties After Joker Used His Song: Report
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker may have used a song by convicted pedophile Gary Glitter but the singer will not be profiting from it.
Glitter’s 1972 stadium anthem “Rock and Roll Part II” won’t be putting any royalty money in the disgraced singer’s bank accounts, according to The New York Times.
A representative for Snapper Music, which owns the master rights to Glitter’s music, told the Times Glitter “is not entitled to, nor have we paid, any royalties to him.”
A spokesperson for Snapper Music told PEOPLE in a statement “that it has owned the Master rights since Feb 1997 and [Glitter] is not entitled to, nor have we paid, any royalties or share of synch fees or other monies from the catalogue to him.”
A spokesperson for Universal Music Publishing Group, which owns the songwriting itself, did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Universal told The Los Angeles Times in a statement, “Gary Glitter’s publishing interest in the copyright of his songs is owned by U.M.P.G. and other parties, therefore U.M.P.G does not pay him any royalties or other considerations.”
The Todd Phillips-directed film uses Glitter’s 1972 stadium anthem “Rock and Roll Part II” to underscore one of the movie’s biggest scenes, in which Phoenix’s character dances down a large set of stairs.
Some online critics believed this means Glitter, 75, could earn royalty money on the film’s DVD and soundtrack sales — in addition to what Warner Bros. paid initially for using the song.
PEOPLE has reached out to the studio for comment.
Joker broke October box office records this weekend, earning an estimated $93.5 million at the domestic box office and made $234 million internationally.
Glitter is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2015 for one count of attempted rape, four counts of indecent assault and one count of having sex with a girl under the age of 13.
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The British glam rocker (né Paul Gadd) had a long history of sex offenses.
In November 1997, Glitter was arrested after child pornography was found on his laptop; he was sentenced to four months in prison in 1999 and was listed as a sex offender in the United Kingdom.
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In 2000, he fled to Spain and then to Cuba and Cambodia. He was deported from Cambodia in 2003, however, over other alleged sex offenses. His next stop was Vietnam, where he was arrested in 2005 following accusations of “obscene acts with a child” made by two girls aged under 18.
One of the rape charges was dropped, though he did admit that an 11-year-old had slept in his bed. He was forced to give compensatory payments to the girls’ families.
In March 2006, Glitter, who has maintained his innocence, was tried on more charges of obscene acts, this time with two girls aged 10 and 11. Found guilty, he was imprisoned for three years. As part of his sentence, he was deported back to Britain from Vietnam upon his early release in August 2008.
Glitter’s current sentence stems from a 2012 arrest after police uncovered new evidence of sexual abuse committed by Glitter in the 1970s.
Joker is now playing in theaters.
