“Shy Ronnie” needs a lawyer.
Funnyman Andy Samberg was slapped with a copyright-infringement suit yesterday for allegedly stealing the music for a “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring sultry pop princess Rihanna.
A music-production team from St. Louis claims Samberg and his “Lonely Island” pals, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, were “never authorized, licensed, permitted or ratified” to use their tune for “Shy Ronnie,” a video parody from 2009.
Aleric “Rick tha Rular” Banks and Monique “Foxx StarStrukk” Hines also want an accounting of the revenues for their song “Like a Boss,” which was featured in a Samberg skit and released on the Lonely Island album “Incredibad.”
The Manhattan federal-court filing, which seeks unspecified damages, also says, “Banks has not received producer royalties for his production of the music for ‘Like a Boss.’”
In an interview with the St. Louis American, Hines said she was “amazed” and “cried” after seeing Rihanna singing to her music, adding, “When she pivoted and turned the corner with those Rihanna shades, I was blown away.”