Soundgarden take Vicky Cornell to court to demand access to social media accounts

The remaining members of Soundgarden have accused Vicky Cornell of locking them out of the band’s website and social media accounts.

Official court papers filed in Washington D.C. see band members Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd, as well as their business manager Rit Venerus, accuse Cornell of locking them out of their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vimeo, YouTube, Snapchat, Tumblr, Top Spin and Pinterest accounts.

Cornell, the widow of the late Chris Cornell, also stands accused of changing the passwords to the band’s website.

Soundgarden are now asking for a judge to order Cornell to hand over the passwords or include a final social media post which states: “Soundgarden has temporarily suspended its official social media accounts due to pending litigation.”

The band say that Cornell has locked them out of their social media accounts, accusing her in court of “holding hostage the login information”.

Their filing also states that Cornell gained control of the accounts from their previous management team, Patriot Management. She is accused of leaving the accounts in “a state of neglect” and failing to update fans about the latest Soundgarden developments.

A hearing on the band’s request is set for April 16.

It marks the latest chapter in the long-running legal saga between Cornell and Soundgarden.

In 2019 she filed a lawsuit against the remaining members of the band and their manager over the rights to several unreleased Soundgarden songs, claiming the tracks entitled her to “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in royalties. The case was finally settled earlier this month as a judge ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that the band’s surviving members are withholding royalties from Cornell.

Elsewhere, Cornell filed a separate case in court against the band last month after they attempted to buy out her stake in her late husband’s band for what she has called a “ludicrously low” price.