“Audience members and online commentators understandably believed that the performers were the real Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and said so in social media posts that continue to circulate.” That argument anchors a new legal filing that brings the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders into a dispute with My Chemical Romance.
Pro Silver Star, the parent company of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, filed a temporary restraining order against the band after backup dancers appeared onstage wearing look-alike uniforms while toting guns. Representatives for My Chemical Romance did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the legal action.
The squad has guarded its brand and image. In the 1970s, the organization took legal action when the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas featured a woman wearing a look-alike uniform. Suzanne Mitchell, the former director of the squad, noted in the 2018 documentary Daughters of the Sexual Revolution that the initial battle cost the organization substantial resources to clarify that the cinematic characters were unaffiliated with the actual squad.
Defending a Distinctive Visual Identity Onstage
The core of the legal complaint rests on audience confusion generated by the costume design during My Chemical Romance’s live performances. According to court filings from Pro Silver Star, spectators and online observers openly mistook the band’s backup performers for the genuine squad, driving conversations across social media platforms that continue to draw traction.
The franchise operates with control over how its branding and uniforms appear in public view.
A History of Litigious Brand Protection
Decades ago, the appearance of a unauthorized uniform in Debbie Does Dallas prompted litigation to establish boundaries for commercial and artistic parodies.
“It cost the Cowboys a million dollars to prove to them that the girls on the squad named Debbie were not the ‘Debbie Does Dallas’ in the movie,” Mitchell explained in Daughters of the Sexual Revolution. “We had to protect what was ours.”
