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Spitting Image Parent Company Head Discusses Paddington Bear Lawsuit

The head of parent company, Avalon, addressed StudioCanal's lawsuit against Spitting Image over their recent Paddington Bear spoof.

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Article Summary

  • Spitting Image faces a lawsuit from StudioCanal over its satirical Paddington Bear sketch.
  • Avalon head Jon Thoday expresses surprise that a comedy company would sue over parody content.
  • The show doubled down with a second, edgier Paddington spoof, altering the bear's appearance.
  • Thoday highlights the tradition of parody in Spitting Image and StudioCanal’s own satirical works.

As the StudioCanal lawsuit against Spitting Image for their parody of Paddington Bear continues, Jon Thoday, the head of Avalon, the parent company behind the parody puppet show, spoke up about the situation with Deadline Hollywood, who seem to be more fascinated with the story than anyone else. Bleeding Cool is following it because some of us grew up watching Spitting Image on television in the 1990s.

"When Roger asked us to bring Spitting Image back a few years ago, we were incredibly honored to do that and support everything that Spitting Image means," Thoday said. "We never expected to get sued by Studiocanal, a giant organization that one would have thought also supports creative work."

"This company has made two brilliantly funny films," Thoday added. "Particularly Paddington 2, I think, I'm a fan of that. It didn't really cross my mind that a company that also did comedy would pursue us for, essentially, a joke."

Spitting Image Parent Company Head Weighs in on Paddington Lawsuit
Image: Spitting Image YouTube Screencap

Thoday pointed out that, historically, people spoofed in the show, even in the most grotesque puppet forms, often took pride that it meant they were part of the mainstream. Several have even tried to buy their puppet avatars. Spitting Image took the piss out of Yoda in a previous season and wasn't sued by Disney. Now, Avalon is itself lawyering up against the lawsuit from StudioCanal.

"There was a discussion about whether we should listen to them [Studiocanal], or whether we should continue to parody what we think is a funny thing," Thoday explained. "I said, of course, we should continue to support the creatives on the show. I've just simply said we should give it to the best lawyers we can find and let the law do its thing."

The second sketch, available on YouTube, showed Paddington snorting piles of white powder while wiping his furry bottom on the legal papers served by a company called "Studio C-Anal." It is perhaps notable, however, that Paddington's appearance in this follow-up changed: gone was the signature red hat and duffle coat.

"It wasn't a news story until Studiocanal made it one," Thoday reiterated."And Spitting Image is about parodying the news, so you couldn't really not do that. I'm not the producer of the show, so I can't possibly say… but Spitting Image is all about following news stories, and if it's still a news story, I imagine there will be more."

Thoday also pointed out that Studiocanal has itself produced a satirical puppet show, Les Guignols, and said he was a fan of the films and series the French studio makes and sells.

"If you look at some of their catalogs, they've got some of the Ealing comedies, they've got Paddington, which are really funny movies, and they have The Producers, which is a movie that I incredibly admire. I can't imagine that Mel Brooks would think that attacking a bear is a good use of money."

Meanwhile, Avalon is lawyering up to defend itself and Spitting Image. The follow-up sketch on the Spitting Image YouTube showed Paddington snorting piles of white powder while wiping his furry bum on the legal papers served by a company called "Studio C-Anal." However, Paddington wasn't wearing his signature red hat and duffle coat and wore an apron and protective goggles like a drug dealer fresh from making his stash.

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Adi TantimedhAbout Adi Tantimedh

Adi Tantimedh is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote radio plays for the BBC Radio, “JLA: Age of Wonder” for DC Comics, “Blackshirt” for Moonstone Books, and “La Muse” for Big Head Press. Most recently, he wrote “Her Nightly Embrace”, “Her Beautiful Monster” and “Her Fugitive Heart”, a trilogy of novels featuring a British-Indian private eye published by Atria Books, a division Simon & Schuster.
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