After the announcement of holographic posthumous tour, the Zappa name is in the news again, but this time because of the long-standing financial dispute between the experimental rock legend’s children. On Friday, Ahmet Zappa released an official statement in response to a blog post by his brother Dweezil Zappa. The blog post disputes the claims made by the younger Zappa in an interview that Dweezil was allowed by Zappa Family Trust (ZFT) – who are run by Ahmet and his sister Diva Zappa – to play his father’s music on tour as well as selling related merchandise. The renewing of this dispute between the offspring of Zappa has re-heated up after the announcement of the hologram tour – which Dweezil has made clear he will have nothing to do with.
Not only does Dweezil claim that ZFT is not allowing him to perform his dad’s songs, but he also claims that the trust did not allow him to perform under his own full name. He states in the blog posts that he has reached out to ZFT in order to reach an co-existence agreement. He claims that his lawyers have ever heard back after reaching out about this possibility.
Ahmet begins his statement specifically towards his brother, saying he would “rather be sitting face to face with Dweezil and figuring things out privately and respectfully–like I think families should do.” He adds that the entire dispute is bizarre because Dweezil is in fact one of the four beneficiaries of ZFT. He wonders why Dweezil felt the need to bring in his own outside lawyers for a family meeting over a year ago in February 2016 – which he claims was intended to suss out the roles each sibling would take following the death of their mother Gail Zappa in 2015. He adds that Dweezil has had no problem taking money from ZFT when each of the beneficiaries took an identical sum of money.
“At the same time, the ZFT’s terms (created by Frank and Gail) gave to Dweezil, along with my sisters and myself, money from the ZFT on any Frank Zappa related project,” said Ahmet in a statement. “I repeat…ANY FRANK ZAPPA PROJECT. And the percentages were not decided by me, but are legally set forth in the trust. This means that I can’t give money to whomever I choose, but that Diva and I, as co-trustees of the ZFT, MUST follow the rules set forth in the document or we can be held accountable.”
Ahmet reiterates that the ZFT does not have any issue with Dweezil performing his late father’s music while clarifying that the trust does not own any rights to the name DWEEZIL. He states that Dweezil is free to perform under his name as well as perform Frank Zappa songs. He speaks of a predetermined mediation date in November, though expresses his with to handle it with Dweezil before that time, without lawyers and mediators involved.
He makes it clear that he has an emotional obligation to work things out – it is his brother after all, and Ahmet says that he loves him despite what Dweezil has said in the past. He then affirms his responsibility to do right by the ZFT, a position he was not asked to have but was bestowed upon him by their late mother. The letter concludes with a request that anyone reading who may have Dweezil’s ear should recommend that he meets with his family members to resolve what is a pretty confusing and convoluted dispute.
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