John Fogerty, the songwriter and singer of “Proud Mary,” is speaking out about the film of the same name, starring Taraji P. Henson as an assassin named Mary.
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In a statement posted to his Twitter account Thursday evening, Fogerty said that he’d never heard about the movie and that he has nothing to do with it.
“It irks me when people seek to capitalize on the popularity of my music and the good will it has earned with the public for their own financial gain,” he wrote. “Over the years, I have often found myself directly opposed to these uses. This movie has nothing to do with me, or my song. They simply picked the title and wrote a completely fictitious story around it.”
Fogerty also went on to complain about the premise of the movie:
“No one ever asked me about using my song this way, or even about the meaning of ‘Proud Mary,’” Fogerty continued. “The movie poster has my lyrics changed to read… ‘killing for the Man every night and day.’ I wrote the song about a mythical riverboat, cruising on a mythical river, in a mythical time… It was obviously a metaphor about leaving painful, stressful things behind for a more tranquil and meaningful life. Far from a story about killing people for money.”
Fogerty’s band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, made the song popular back in 1969, but it was also remade by Ike and Tina Turner, who are often credited with its popularity.
Fogerty may be just screaming into the wind (well, Twitter) for no reason because, according to Sony, the music was cleared with the publisher.
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