Why did Grace Slick agree to license a song to Chick-fil-A?

“Chick-fil-A pisses me off,” says singer/songwriter Grace Slick in an editorial posted by Forbes. So, when the notoriously religious and anti-LGBTQ food chain Chick-fil-A wanted to use Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now in an ad, her first thought was “F**k no!”

You can view the Chick-fil-A ad in the video posted above.

Slick was formerly a lead singer for Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Starship was “a central piece of the free-loving, psychedelic San Francisco music scene during the 60’s,” writes Andrew O’Brien in LiveForLiveMusic.com.

O’Brien explains that it was a surprise to hear the Starship number in an ad for Chick-fil-A that was aired during the Grammys. It had been licensed by Slick for use in the commercial. So what turned “F**k no!” into “F**ck yes!”?

Slick explains in the Forbes piece: “Recently an ad agency asked me if they could use a song I sang on, in 1987, for a TV commercial. I didn’t immediately tell them to go f**k themselves. After all, I’ve licensed my music to advertise someone else’s product before.”

But those licenses weren’t for a liberal company; they were for Chick-fil-A.

“The Georgia-based company has a well-documented history of funding organizations, through their philanthropic foundation WinShape, that are against gay marriage,” writes Slick.

“In interviews, CEO Dan T. Cathy has critiqued gay-rights supporters who ‘have the audacity to define marriage’ and said they are bringing ‘God’s judgment’ upon the nation.”

As noted above, her first reaction was “F**k no!” But, she says, “Then I decided, ‘F**k yes.’”

“So that was my voice you heard on the Chick-fil-A commercial during the Grammy Awards telecast.

“I am donating every dime that I make from that ad to Lambda Legal, the largest national legal organization working to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people, and everyone living with HIV.

“Admittedly it’s not the millions that WinShape has given to organizations that define marriage as heterosexual.

“But instead of them replacing my song with someone else's and losing this opportunity to strike back at anti-LGBTQ forces, I decided to spend the cash in direct opposition to ‘Check’-fil-A’s causes – and to make a public example of them, too. We’re going to take some of their money, and pay it back.”

She explains, “See, I come from a time when artists didn’t just sell their soul to the highest bidder, when musicians took a stand, when the message of songs was ‘feed your head,’ not ‘feed your wallet.’

“We need that kind of artistic integrity today, more than ever. We won’t produce quality art if we don’t keep ourselves open to all people and possibilities, if we don’t put our money where our mouths are.

“I hope more musicians will think about the companies that they let use their songs; we can use our gifts to help stop the forces of bigotry.

“Nothing’s gonna stop us now.”

You can read Slick’s entire Forbes piece here.

Copyright The Gayly – February 28, 2019 @ 12 p.m. CST.