Nike Is Suing MSCHF Over Lil Nas X’s Satan Shoes

Lil Nas X is taking social media by storm — again. Over the weekend, the Grammy-winning artist released his latest single, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” and its associated music video. To coincide with the release, the artist and his team released a limited run of sneakers containing human blood in each sole. Now, Nike has filed suit against MSCHF — the manufacturer of the shoes — for copyright infringement.

In the music video to “MONTERO,” Lil Nas X travels to Hell and ends up dancing all up on the devil. By the end of the video, the singer kills Satan and replaces him as the king of Hell — hence, the “Satan shoes.” Sunday afternoon, MSCHF sold all 666 pairs of the customized shoes within minutes and Nike has now come calling.

According to the case filing, Nike did not approve the customization of its Nike Air Max 97 shoe, the base product used by MSCHF for the custom product. “MSCHF and its unauthorized Satan Shoes are likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF’s products and Nike,” the suit reads.

It adds, “In fact, there is already evidence of significant confusion and dilution occurring in the marketplace, including calls to boycott Nike in response to the launch of MSCHF’s Satan Shoes based on the mistaken belief that Nike has authorized or approved this product.”

As of now, Nike has only filed a lawsuit against MSCHF and not Lil Nas X himself. Even then, that’s not stopping the singer from commenting on the situation the only way he could — through the use of memes and trolling.

Nike filed the suit in the United States District Court of Eastern New York and includes four charges in its complaint — trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trademark dilution, and common law trademark infringement. The outfit is also requesting the court stop MSCHF from fulfilling all orders placed in an effort to stop the shoes from being distributed.