Axl Rose Issues DMCA To Remove "Fat Axl" From Our Eyes

The internet is a wonderful place until you get on the wrong end of a meme. This is something Guns N’ Roses's Axl Rose has recently found out.

Pictures of a much rounder than usual Rose were released in 2010 and in return, the public gave birth to what has become known as “fat Axl”. These memes included everything from “Sweet Burgers O’Mine” to “Knocking on McDonald’s Door”, among others.

Rose, being who he is, hasn’t taken kindly to it from the beginning, but it begs the question as to why this has become such a big problem almost six years later. Having issued a series of Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown requests to Google directly, nothing but further memes and laughter has come out of it. Rose argues that the images shot by photographer, Boris Minkevich, belong to him and have incorrectly been published.

Minkevich has stated that those using the photo for memes are stealing it regardless if he should have released the image or not. "Either way, the photo was stolen off our website with no permission granted by the Winnipeg Free Press” Minkevich said in a statement.

Notices sent by Web Sheriff on behalf of Rose read, “Copyright image of Axl Rose. Please be advised that no permission has been granted to publish the copyright image so we cannot direct you to an authorized example of it.”

Rose and Web Sheriff claim that all photographers accredited to take photos at any Guns N’ Roses concert from now on are required to sign waivers granting copyright to the band meaning that Rose owns the pictures taken and is entitled to remove them if he seems necessary. (Jesus, that's not a slippery slope, is it?)

Google is yet to comment on the topic but has not removed the image(s) at the time of writing.

We love you Axl, you just make it all too easy sometimes.