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Kanye West and Kim Kardashian issue cease and desist notice to charity auction organisers

Written by . Published: July 02 2013

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have fired off a cease and desist letter to the bosses of a publicity company holding a charity auction in celebration of their baby daughter's arrival.


The couple welcomed little North 'Nori' West on 15 June (13) and had asked friends and relatives to send donations to the Lurie Children's Hospital in West's native Chicago, Illinois in lieu of baby gifts - and public relations agent Jonathan Hay decided to mark the birth of the celebrity offspring by organising the sale of a painting of the hip-hop star to boost funds for the medical centre.


Hay promoted the independent event online with a photo of the Stronger hitmaker and his reality TV star girlfriend, although he posted a disclaimer at the bottom of his website to make it clear the couple was in no way involved in the auction.


However, Hay's advertisement caught the eye of West and Kardashian's attorney, Lisa M. Buckley, who sent him a legal note demanding he remove the stars' names from the notice, insisting the post was misleading.


The letter reads in part: "While our clients certainly have no objections to... (your) desire to donate money to the Charity, and in fact would applaud your making a donation, you cannot do so under the guise that it is pursuant to a request by our clients, that your activity is sanctioned or approved by Ms. Kardashian and Mr. West, or are involved in any way with your 'charity auction.' Yet, this is exactly what you have done. The construction and phrasing of this advertisement - first referencing our clients' request that charitable donations be made in lieu of baby gifts, your comment that the Charity that will purportedly receive the proceeds of the auction is our clients' 'charity of choice,' and your reference to a painting of Mr. West first seen in one of his music videos - creates a very strong impression that our clients are connected to or otherwise involved in your venture."


However, Buckley goes on to claim that the stars have no interest in preventing the donation to the charity - they are just objecting to the use of their names in conjunction with the auction, according to PerezHilton.com.


Hay has since complied with the legal request and appears to have scrapped plans for the 3 July (13) sale, arguing, "the ones affected the most by this are the children and their families".

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