Ricky Don't File That Lawsuit

From alert reader Matt Kline of L.O. 102

Fossil rockers Steely Dan claim that the new Owen Wilson movie "You, Me and Dupree" was ripped off from their Grammy-winning song "Cousin Dupree" about a similar houseguest from hell.

In a move unusual in today's environment of ridiculous and embarrassing intellectual property lawsuits, the band leaders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen merely asked Owen Wilson to appear at a show in Irvine, California, to apologize to the band's fans. Wilson, in return, would get Steely Dan merchandise and a chance to party with the group.

"He would have to cop to the fact that what he and his Hollywood gangster pals did was wrong and that he wishes he had never agreed to get involved with this turkey in the first place," says the pair. "

Becker and Fagen claim that "some hack writer or producer" heard Steely Dan's "Cousin Dupree," about a hormonal houseguest, and "when it came time to change the character's name or whatever so people wouldn't know what a rip the whole thing was, they didn't even bother to think up a new (expletive) name for the guy!" They go on to trash the movie (a "summer stinkbomb") and Wilson. "Instant karma is a fact, Jack," the pair writes.

In a statement released by his spokeswoman, Ina Treciokas, Wilson said: "I have never heard the song 'Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, 'HEY 19.'"