Grace Slick donates money from Chick-fil-A Starship commercial to Lambda Legal

Grace Slick allowed Chick-fil-A to use one of her songs but the Jefferson Airplane and Starship singer had an ulterior motive.

The 77-year-old rock star donated what she was paid to the LGBT rights organization Lambda Legal. The Starship hit Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now was featured in a commercial for the fast food chain on Grammy night.

‘Chick-fil-A pisses me off,’ Slick writes in an Op-Ed for Forbes.com.

Here’s why: ‘The Georgia-based company has a well-documented history of funding organizations … that are against gay marriage. I firmly believe that men should be able to marry men, and women women. I am passionately against anyone who would try to suppress this basic human right. So my first thought when ‘Check’-fil-A came to me was, “Fuck no!” But then I decided, “Fuck yes.”‘

‘I am donating every dime that I make from that ad to Lambda Legal, the largest national legal organization working to advance the civil rights of LGBTQ people, and everyone living with HIV,’ Slick writes.

‘Admittedly it’s not the millions that WinShape has given to organizations that define marriage as heterosexual. But instead of them replacing my song with someone else’s and losing this opportunity to strike back at anti-LGBTQ forces, I decided to spend the cash in direct opposition to “Check”-fil-A’s causes – and to make a public example of them, too. We’re going to take some of their money, and pay it back.’

The outspoken Slick insists her Op-Ed isn’t an attempt at spin.

‘You might think I’m writing this just to cover my ass for allowing a company whose practices many find morally objectionable to use Starship’s music. Well, I haven’t covered my ass since the day I was born (except, maybe, in a pair of white Levi’s).

‘From the moment I agreed to license the song, I knew I wanted to set an example for other artists. I wanted to tell them, “Your art will survive and thrive. Do not let it be used by companies who support intolerance. Don’t be afraid to take a stand. You’re an artist; that’s what we do.’