George Clinton has filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group alleging more than $1.1 million in withheld royalties. 

Clinton filed his suit on May 15 in a federal court in Michigan, Billboard reported. The funk icon claims UMG has unjustly ceased all royalty payments for years, originally due to the estate of late Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell’s suit against Clinton for a share of the band’s recording catalog, filed in 2022 and dismissed last year. While Clinton’s deal permits UMG to halt royalties when “reasonably necessary,” and the label was named as a codefendant in the Worrell case, the new filing asserts that UMG is still failing to pay.

“UMG continues to withhold 100% of royalties from plaintiff across every royalty account, including accounts for sound recordings that have no [connection] whatsoever to the Worrell litigation,” Clinton’s attorneys wrote. “These funds have been frozen for more than three years, with no legal justification, financially crippling plaintiff.”

Clinton’s suit seeks the release of the more than $1.1 million in royalties lost since 2022 and stop any further withholding, as well as a full assessment of all his royalty accounts. The third demand responds to UMG’s freeze on all of Clinton’s royalty accounts – including those unrelated to the Worrell lawsuit, such as production work for other artists.

“This is a straightforward breach of contract case arising from UMG’s decision to withhold 100% of royalties payable to Plaintiff… based on a third-party lawsuit to which UMG is not a party, in which UMG faces no claim, in which UMG could incur no liability,” the filing continues.

On July 5, Clinton and his Parliament-Funkadelic ensemble will return to New Orleans 50 years after their first performance in the city to close out the ESSENCE Festival, celebrating Black cultural history at the Caesars Superdome for Independence Day weekend. The band’s headline set on Sunday will mark the return of their Mothership stage show, featuring a recreation of Dr. Funkenstein’s legendary spaceship prop. Read more about the Mothership’s next flight here.