Robin Thicke’s Attorney Says His Drug Abuse is Being Exploited

photo via: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Thicke

Recently there has been a bit of extra attention drawn to R&B star Robin Thicke and producer Pharrell Williams for a bit on controversy sparked over the single “Blurred Lines” that was saturating the airwaves and music video stations for a generous amount of time.

They say there is no such things as bad publicity, yet Robin Thicke’s attorney now intends to claim that his clients issues with drug abuse are just that, and that the real-life issue is being exploited. So is this a real issue for Thicke, or is his alibi now being turned around and used as a way to pull the ‘victim card’ out against the Marvin Gaye attorneys? Or based off the fact he claims to be ‘sober’ but still admits to drinking, is the problem that Thicke does not take the addiction issue seriously?

The Plot Thicke’ens

Robin Thicke’s attorney Howard King stated earlier this week that the estate of Marvin Gaye exploited the singer’s “moment of personal vulnerability” in an attempt to prove that the hit “Blurred Lines” which a 2013 international hit was a rip-off of a Marvin Gaye hit entitled “Got to Give it Up” from years back, due to Marvin Gaye’s estate suing Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams last year over the indiscretion regarding their “Blurred Lines” single.

Robin Thicke made claims that the songs producer Pharrell Williams did much of the writing on the song and says in an April depositions that was made by Thicke and Pharrell Williams in the case, which became unsealed Monday. This is without a doubt totally different story than the story the two stars were feeding to the public during interviews last year about the Grammy-nominated hits resounding success. Which leaves one to wonder if Thicke intends to avoid the issue not only with claims about his drug abuse, but also by throwing his producer under the bus, which seems pretty possible with claims like,

“The record would have happened with or without me,” Thicke said in the deposition. “I was just lucky enough to be there when he wrote it.”

This statement follows with contradiction several interviews following the songs release and rise to fame when Robin Thicke had taken no shame in taking credit from writing the song. When confronted with the fact that he had earlier attempted to take credit for his own contribution, Thicke quickly went on the defensive by saying he had been consistently high on a cocktail of different prescription drugs, including Vicodin and alcohol during the writing of the song, and especially during the interviews following its release where he made his claims about his involvement in the project.

“In fact, I was quite surprised when I read them back sometimes,” he said about the interviews.

He also described his daily routine for attorneys, in which he goes into detail about his drug use and how it played a major role in his deciding to bite off more than he could chew as far as what rights he held to the creative control of the title.

“Every day I woke up, I’d take a Vicodin to start the day. And then I’d fill up a water bottle with vodka and drink it before and during my interviews.”

So to that affect, Robin Thicke intends to use substance abuse as a crutch to lean on in this case, and would rather take responsibility for a ‘drug problem’ than lying one way or the other about his influence to one of his most popular songs.

The Blame Game: Celebrity Addition 

When asked why he had put himself in this position in the first place, Robin Thicke said he began to embellish his involvement in the production process after “Blurred Lines” became an undeniable and highly circulated hit. In the deposition Thicke went on to explain how he wanted to take more credit than he was due during interviews and in the media because he felt disappointed that his biggest hit had been written by someone else, and wanted to try and save face by getting as much of the kudos as he could.

Howard King said the law team working with the Gaye estate are just trying to re-enforce their lawsuit  for claiming the “Blurred Lines” material was a rip-off of “Got to Give it Up” by the writers, including Thicke and Williams. Through Thicke’s publicist the attorney made a bold statement that said,

“Robin’s moment of personal vulnerability is being exploited in the hope of diverting attention from the obvious weakness of their legal claim.”

The Gaye family appropriately fired back through an email of their own with their attorney, pointing out the inconsistencies in the defense Howard King aims to utilize,

“We did not inject Mr. Thicke’s issues into this case. Mr. Thicke and his counsel did so in the attempt to avoid his prior admissions regarding `Got to Give it Up.'”

That email, which came from attorney Richard S. Busch, included that the court had ordered that the transcripts be made public.

“Not only does our brief set out in great detail the facts, law and expert musical analysis supporting the claim of infringement of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got to Give It Up’ by ‘Blurred Lines,’ but we have also identified numerous statements by both Mr. Williams and Mr. Thicke outside of this case, and under oath in this case, which we believe cannot be reconciled and further support the Gayes’ claims.”

The worst part of this whole issue is that when reviewing the statements from Robin Thicke, it is implied through-out his defense that he does not take the real problems facing those who struggle with addiction too seriously. Conveniently he only struggled with drugs and alcohol for the year during which he gave interviews, including one he did with Oprah where he openly admitted that Marvin Gaye was the inspiration for the majority of his music.

But now he is ‘sober’ for months… well, except for alcohol, because that does not count, right? This kind of admission leads me to believe that he either has no regard for the reality of addiction and the meaning of sobriety, or he simply just needs an excuse to avoid being held accountable.

For anyone struggling with drugs and alcohol, it should be made clear that there is a lot more to sobriety than just avoiding one substance or another, and that in order to effectively recover there has to be a real contribution made in order to save your life. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance abuse or addiction, please call toll-free 1-800-777-9588