Monsanto, the multinational agribusiness conglomerate and food gene engineer, are thinking of suing Neil Young for his 2015 album, The Monsanto Years.
According to the Guardian via Spin. the agrochemical corporation ran an “intelligence fusion centre” to expose journalists or any other critics of their ways.
Young is vehemently against the practices of the agribusiness is famed for speaking out against the company before and this particular album was written in protest against the policies of Monsanto, Starbucks, and other corporations.
Monsanto started collecting data on Young in 2015 on foot of the release of the 2015 record. At the time, they created internal charts and graphs based on Young’s social media statements.
The company went so far as to schedule a public relations campaign to dispute disparaging statements made in Young’s lyrics. One document says:
“We are developing a plan to proactively produce content and response preparedness for the following six topics that seem most likely to be Young’s next targets.”
The documents also reveal that Monsanto was “monitoring discussions” relating to Young’s forthcoming Farm Aid concert. This tour included performances from Young along with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews.
One email included in the documents reads: “We have reached out to the legal team and are keeping them informed of Neil’s activities in case any legal action is appropriate. We are sitting tight to see where this goes.”
Neil Young’s The Monsanto Years is his 35th studio album and third with his band Promise of the Real. Following its release in June 2015, Billboard contacted Monsanto regarding claims made on the album.
A representative for the company responded: “there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do—and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”
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