Shirley Caesar Denies ‘U Name It Challenge’ Lawsuit: ‘We Have Not Sued Anyone’

Contrary to earlier reports, Shirley Caesar is not suing DJ Suede over the video of the U Name It Challenge, according to her attorneys.

On Saturday (Dec. 10), the gospel icon went on her Facebook page, to give fans an update on what she’s doing legally in the wake of the success of the viral video and remix. “NO LAWSUIT: Hello Family, I just got a call from someone asking me about a lawsuit; please be clear, there has been no lawsuit filed,” she wrote.

She also posted a statement from her attorney, James L. Walker, Jr., Esq., who explained that they filed an injunction against DJ Suede for posting his remix on iTunes and one of his videos violates "the brand name of a Christian pastor” because of its images of alcohol and other things. He partially writes:

"Unfortunately, similar to you, we as a team, were laughing and enjoying the video challenge, until we recently discovered that DJ Suede, Empire Records and another party, took the original popular song and phrase and illegally released a different record on I-Tunes without our written permission. They even did a video highlighting alcohol and negative imagery...We asked them repeatedly to remove these negative materials...[and] when they refused to remove the commercial song from the Internet and the video, to protect Pastor's legacy and what Shirley Caesar stands for, we had to take legal action, secure a temporary injunction and order DJ Suede to remove the video, as well as cease and desist sales."

The injunction sounds reasonable to us as Pastor Caesar have told media outlets that she's not feeling the twerking videos by fans who participate in the challenge.

DJ Suede has responded to the brouhaha and urged fans to not attacked Pastor Caesar for protecting her brand.

"I appreciate all the support. Real talk. Everyone's definitely entitled to their own opinion I just ask that my supporters respect the other side as I expect them to respect me," he wrote on his Instagram page.

There's a silver lining in all of this: Shirley Caesar's inspirational song "Hold My Mule," which DJ Suede samples in the #UNameItChallenge remix, is the No. 1 song on the Billboard Gospel chart.