Charlie the Unicorn is a series of web cartoons about a unicorn named Charlie, which went viral in the early 2000s. Recently, it was featured in an advertisement for new skins for MultiVersus. This did not sit well with Charlie the Unicorn creator Jason Steele.
On the left — a frame from the MultiVersus advertisement, on the right — a frame from Charlie the Unicorn 2
On social media, the creators of MultiVersus published an ad featuring skins of three unicorn-dogs and included the original audio track from Charlie the Unicorn. According to Steele, Warner Bros. used the sound for their ad without his permission.
"We all take too many liberties with copyright law. But when you're a billion-dollar company, you should at least get permission to use someone else's work before advertising your game," Steele wrote on X.
Later, Steele added on Reddit that he often came across references to Charlie the Unicorn in games by large companies. For instance, in World of Warcraft, there is a dead unicorn with an enchanted kidney named Charlie. Steele doesn't mind such references and is even pleased to find nods to his creation. He also doesn't object when ordinary people use his cartoons for non-commercial works. It's another matter when someone like Warner Bros. does it.
"Warner Bros. is one of the largest media companies in the world, and it often uses copyright law as a weapon against smaller creators. […] If it demands law compliance from others, it should adhere to the same standards. Someone should have contacted me and asked permission to use the audio track from my cartoon in the MultiVersus skin ad. Indie creators shouldn't have to fight Warner Bros. for the right to create parody videos while not allowing it to profit from our works without permission," the artist stated.
Warner Bros. has not commented on the situation. Shortly after Steele's criticism, they removed the contentious ad for MultiVersus skins.