It was a Minions controversy heard round the world, and now it's a Minions skate on the global stage as Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate finally performs.
The Spanish skater had been performing the fan-favorite program all season long, but when he got to the Olympics, things took an unexpected turn. Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate announced that he will be able to use four songs for his Minions-inspired routine.
It was a Minions controversy heard round the world, and now it will be a Minions skate on the global stage as Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate finally performs his fan favorite figure skating short program at the Winter Olympics.Sabate had been skating to the same music all season, thinking he had the proper approval through a system called ClicknClear to use four cuts of Minions music. Last week, asked for him to provide more details on the music he was using and the Minions-inspired outfit that he had been wearing. He was able to quickly get approval for two cuts of music, and Sabate obtained a third by reaching out directly to the artist, a fellow Spaniard. The hold up was the song “Freedom” by the American musician and producer Pharrell Williams.that he began practicing his Bee Gee-inspired short program from last year. But as news of his plight came out, and he began to get approval for some of the music, his hopes of performing Minions began to grow.Lindsey Vonn says her torn ACL ‘had nothing to do with my crash.' Here's what she says went wrongSabate obtained the final approval he needed for his music, allowing the Spanish figure skater to perform his short program — set to a medley from the animated comedy from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment. U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn has been keeping tabs on the music clearance issues surrounding Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté and his Minions-themed performance. “I’m so happy to announce that we’ve done it! We’ve secured the licenses for all four songs, and I’ll be able to skate the Minions at the Olympic Games,” Sabate wrote on social media. “It hasn’t been an easy process, but the support of everyone who has followed my case has been key to keeping me motivated and optimistic these past few days.” “I want to thank ClickClear and the RFEDH, as well as Universal Pictures, Pharrell Williams, Sony Music and Juan Alcaraz for managing the rights in such a short time so I can perform my program in Milan,” Sabate said. The 26-year-old Sabate is not considered a medal contender at the Olympics; he was 20th at the world championships last year. But after the past week, he figures to have plenty of support when he brings the Minions with him this week. “Right now, I just want to give my all on the ice and perform a program worthy of the love I’ve received from around the world,” Sabate said. “I’m thrilled by the love that a small skater from a small federation has received.” has become a big problem in figure skating, where for years skaters could only use music without words, usually considered part of the public domain. But when the rules changed in 2014, and more modern music began to be used in competition, some artists began to object to their work being used without the proper permission.Sometimes the label or record producer owns the copyright, other times the artist themselves, and often there are multiple parties involved. Skaters sometimes will piece together different cuts of music, too. Throw in third-party companies such as ClicknClear that try to smooth out the permission process, and the entire copyright issue becomes murky and nuanced. 2022 figure skating Olympian Mariah Bell explains how figure skaters choose their music and what happens if they need to change it at the last minute. The ISU and national governing bodies have spent the past four years trying to develop systems to help skaters obtain permission to use music. But the process remains confusing and nebulous. U.S. Figure Skating has been working with ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, along with BMI, or Broadcast Music Inc., to help ensure that its skaters have no problems with their music choices.Canadian artist Seb McKinnon, who produces music under the name CLANN, took to social media late Sunday to object to the use of his song “The Return,” which Glenn had used in her free skate — and has been using for the past two years without issue. used one of my songs without permission for their routine. It aired all over the world ... what? Is that usual practice for the Olympics?” According to McKinnon, “The deal I have with my label is that I alone can give the OK to license my music.” McKinnon later said that he’d be looking into the situation, but did congratulate Glenn: “And plus she won Gold??? Huge congratz,” he posted. Glenn was not available for comment on the music issue Monday. Previously, she called her experience in getting music approved “pure chaos.” “First we get a website or some sort of application to track things. And then once we're like, ‘OK, yeah, it’s cleared. It's good,' then it's not a reliable source anymore,” Glenn told the AP."OK, then what do we do? And especially as an athlete, this is not something that we should be worrying about. That's not my job. My job is to train and perform.The Belgian had been performing her short program to “Ashes” by Celine Dion from the film “Deadpool 2.” But after the European championships last month, her brother and coach, Jorik Hendrickx, and choreographer Adam Solya became concerned that the music would not be approved for the Olympics, and they decided to change the soundtrack at the last minute. Hendrickx is now performing a slightly modified program to “I Surrender,” another song by Dion, which has the same rhythm and feel as “Ashes.” She was able to obtain permission for that piece because it is part of ClicknClear’s catalogue of licenses. Russian figure skater Petr Gumennik was also forced to change his short program music two days before the men's program at the. Gumennik, who is participating as a neutral athlete at the Winter Games, had been working all season to music from “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” a psychological thriller film. But the 23-year-old Russian national champion learned in the last few days that he did not have proper permission to perform to the music, leaving him in limbo as the Winter Games began. Given such a tight timeframe, Gumennik also was unable to get clearance for his music from last season, which came from the space opera film “Dune.” So, he pivoted to “Waltz 1805” by Edgar Hakobyan.Sabate is set to skate his highly anticipated short performance in the men's individual skating competition starting Tuesday.2026 Milan Cortina Olympics
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