Raygun apology issued after unintended fallout to legal threat over Steph Broadbridge musical

Australian comedian Steph Broadbridge has issued an apology to Rachael Gunn over the unintended fallout to a legal threat that shut down Raygun: The Musical.

Broadbridge’s trial show about the Olympic breakdancer was cancelled hours before its debut in Sydney on Saturday night.

The event was undone by featuring Raygun in the title and using her trademarked kangaroo dance on the poster, with Raygun’s talent agency confirming her management and legal team took action to protect her image rights.

“Rachael Gunn’s management and legal team is committed to protecting her intellectual property and ensuring that her brand remains strong and respected,” Born Bred said in a statement.

“While we have immense respect for the credible work and effort that has gone into the development of the show, we must take necessary steps to safeguard Rachael’s creative rights and the integrity of her work.

“This action is not intended to diminish the contributions of others, but rather to ensure her brand is properly represented and protected in all future endeavours.”

The legal action and subsequent statement set off a wave of debate around Raygun — particularly after she had celebrated impersonations of her dance to the extent that she backed a competition to find the best kangaroo performance.

But Broadbridge said she never intended to spark fresh criticism towards the Olympian.

“If you’re watching I just want to say I’m really sorry for any negativity that you might have received as a result of this,” Broadbridge said on The Project.

“I can promise you that was not my intention. This was supposed to be me trying to make you feel like the icon that I believe you can be in Australia.

“I just wanted to support you through it. If there’s been any negativity, I’m really sorry.”

Broadbridge said she has not been directly involved in the legal discussions and has had no contact with Raygun herself.

“I have no idea, and I don’t know if she does have a problem with it,” the comedian said.

“Because I haven’t spoken to her. Her lawyers haven’t spoke on the me.

“(I have) all been very too removed from what is happening. I’m hoping that she still wants to see it.”

The script contains songs such as ‘You May Be a B-girl But You’ll Always Be an A-girl To Me’, ‘I’m Breaking Down’ and ‘I Would Have Won But I Pulled a Muscle’.

“To me she’s an Australian icon, a female Australian icon, a white female Australian icon and I was like ‘I could play that’,” Broadbridge said.

“I’m very excited to tell her story.

“It wasn’t supposed to be nasty or done with any kind of malice and it certainly wasn’t meant to take place on the scale that it’s taken place. This was meant to be very low key.”

Asked if the musical was actually taking the mickey, Broadbridge said: “Oh, no, big time. But with love!”

Broadbridge plans to go ahead with the show after making changes but remains unsure about the situation.

“I hope it’s good for sales,” she said.

“I don’t know how it will be for creativity if I will have lawyers breathing down my neck telling me what I can and can’t say on stage. That will be frustrating. We’ll see how we go.”

Raygun recently told Channel 7 she was worried heading into the Olympics because she knew that her “approach was different to everyone else’s”, but the global reaction was not on her radar.

“I think the initial reaction a lot of people were confused by what they were seeing,” she said.

“They didn’t understand what they were seeing. You know, they thought it was really funny. And I think there was that initial kind of knee-jerk reaction that people had.

“And then once they’ve started, if they had dug deeper, if they had watched more than the 22nd highlight clip and actually watched all six performances, then they might see that actually there’s a little bit more here, and maybe I was a little bit quick to judge.

“And so to begin with I had to focus on my mental health and I had to also wait for the dust to settle a little bit.

“So it’s being able to talk about it in a positive light and give a platform to other dancers because there are so many amazing dancers out there.”