'War of the ethnics' erupts as comedians fight over word 'wog'
Mr Giannopoulos told A Current Affair's Martin King that he generously gave free tickets to fellow comedians to his show Star Wogs, but he claims some stole the title of the show's closing song Born to be Wogs, which hits Australian theatres next month.
"I thought, hang on a minute. I just gave you free tickets to my show, you're a comedian like me, you've come along, sang my final song, and then decided you call your show that a few months later," Mr Giannopoulos said.
"No, hang on a minute. That ain't right. That's not right."
Comedy icon Nick Giannopoulos claims some comedians have used the title of his song for an upcoming show. A Current Affair
In response, Mr Giannopoulos's legal representatives issued letters to promoters of shows using the word "wog" in the title and demanded they do "not proceed with the sales of any tickets" and "destroy all promotional materials".
Legendary comedians George Kapianiaris and Joe Avati, and up and coming performers James Liotta and Pierro Viavattene, are among the star-studded line-up performing at the show, which has been changed to The Usual Dagos.
"The war of the ethnics has started, and it shouldn't be like that," Mr Kapianiaris said.
Giannopoulos with Vince Colosimo in his film The Wog Boy. A Current Affair
Giannopoulos's lawyers told A Current Affair he took a punt in filing for a trademark on the word "wogs" in 1996.
"So low and behold, much to my surprise and my lawyers, they granted me all my trademarks, 'Wog Boys', 'Wogarama', at the time, and 'Wogs', which my lawyer was really surprised about," he said.
"And he said, congratulations Nick. You now own the trademark 'wog' now."
Gabriel Rossie claimed Giannopoulos was "bullying" them. A Current Affair
The promoter of Gabriel Rossi's show A Very Woggy Christmas also insisted on changing the title to A Very Ethnic Christmas. Gabriel believes he could mount a successful legal defence so he could continue using the term Woggy but his promoter didn't want to drag the matter through court.
"I think the public have a right to know that there's someone out there like him that thinks it's okay to bully us comedians, and that's what he's doing. He's bullying us mate," Mr Rossi said.
A petition Mr Rossi started three days ago demanding Mr Giannopoulos's trademark on the word "wogs" be revoked has already gathered almost 1200 signatures.
But despite Mr Giannopoulos's lawyer sending Mr Rossi's promoter the letter, Mr Giannopoulos insisted he has no problem with his use of the word "woggy".
"Gabriel, I've never sent you a letter mate. I don't care about woggy Christmas. Woggy Christmas' got nothing to do with me," he said.
"I don't own the trademark 'woggy'. 'Woggy' is something … I've not trademarked. And in fact, I'm going to give you a great tip. Go and trademark the word 'woggy'. You can have it. I'm officially making you, Gabriel Rossi, Mr Woggy."
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