Knievel, Kanye Call Truce

Tue., Nov. 27, 2007 2:27 PM PST by Josh Grossberg

Evil Knievel's latest stunt: making peace with Kanye West.

The world's most famous daredevil has "amicably resolved" his lawsuit against the Grammy-winning hip-hopster over West's Knievel-channeling "Touch the Sky" music video.

The rapper's label, Universal Music-owned Roc-A-Fella Records, confirmed the settlement on Tuesday. In a press release, the label says West recently paid a visit to Knievel's home in Tampa to seal the deal. (See above for photographic evidence of that summit.)

Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but Knievel said, "I was very satisfied and so was he."

In the suit, filed last December in U.S. District Court, the 68-year-old Knievel accused West, Roc-A-Fella, video director Chris Milk and distributor AOL of trademark infringement and trashing the stuntman's good name in the video.

The five-and-a-half-minute clip features West in the guise of "Evel Kanyevel," complete with a red, white and blue jumpsuit "visually indistinguishable" from the one Knievel wore during his 1970s motorcycle-jumping heyday, per the lawsuit. The video, costarring Pamela Anderson, also features the rapper mimicking Knievel's infamous 1974 stunt, when he tried to blast his way across Idaho's Snake Canyon using a jet-powered "Skycycle" rocket.

Knievel claimed West's "vulgar and racially charged" behavior in the music video ran "directly counter to Evel Knievel's long-established public persona, [is] utterly inconsistent with his toy products and appeal to children and harms the reputation of Evel Knievel trademark and the Evel Knievel costume."

The "Golddigger" emcee's camp defended the video, saying it was satirical in nature and thus protected by the First Amendment.

Knievel sought a court injunction to bar the video from further distribution and requested unspecified monetary damages. However, by July, the two sides informed a federal judge they would try to resolve their differences through mediation.

"Touch the Sky" was a hit single released off West's 2005 sophomore album, Late Registration.

West, meanwhile, is struggling to rebound from the sudden death of his mother, Donda, earlier this month following cosmetic surgery. After attending her funeral and burial in her native Oklahoma City on Nov. 20, West has gone ahead with a previously scheduled European tour, paying tribute to her each night with the song "Hey Mama."