The reported agreement follows a trademark lawsuit over dancers dressed like the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and would leave the band’s onstage routine unchanged.
My Chemical Romance has agreed to stop dressing its backup dancers in Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders look-alike uniforms while retaining the same stage routine, TMZ said in an October 27 report relayed by Billboard.
The reported deal follows a Texas state court lawsuit from Pro Silver Star, the cheerleaders’ parent company. It alleged that similar blue-and-white costumes used during the first two performances of the band’s five-show Hollywood Bowl residency violated its trademark rights. The residency marks the 20th anniversary of The Black Parade.
Neither the band’s representatives nor the cheerleaders’ lawyer immediately answered Billboard’s requests for comment on October 27. The agreement’s written terms, any financial payment and whether the court has issued an order or formally dismissed the case remain unconfirmed.
In a filing described by TheWrap on October 24, Pro Silver Star said the October 21 performance showed dancers taking up rifles in a staged firefight before being depicted as shot. The concert production is set in a fictional dictatorship in a dystopian American future.
Pro Silver Star argues that the uniform is protected trade dress—the visual features that identify a product’s source to consumers. It alleged that audience members and online commentators mistook the dancers for the actual Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and that continued use threatened the brand’s reputation and goodwill.
The company said it asked the band to stop using the uniforms before suing, but the band refused. By October 24, it had requested a temporary restraining order and a temporary injunction—court orders to stop the disputed use—as well as monetary damages of an unspecified amount.
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Alex Spiro, the lawyer representing the cheerleaders, said Pro Silver Star sought only a costume change. The company did not ask the band to alter its music, narrative, politics, choreography or use of armed stage performers. Legal experts told Billboard that the performance would likely receive protection against the claims under the First Amendment’s free-speech guarantees.
The final two Hollywood Bowl shows are scheduled for the weekend after October 27. Pro Silver Star had sought to bar the disputed uniforms from those performances. If the reported agreement is implemented, audiences would see the same cheerleader routine with different costumes.
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