Sabaté announced that, days before the Winter Olympics began, he was made aware of a copyright issue involving his “Minions” music.
WASHINGTON — Seems like Spanish figure skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté’s “Minion” short program “Gru” on Universal Studios.
Sabaté’, who is representing Spain and making his debut at the Winter Olympics, confirmed that Universal Studios cleared his short program music, a medley from the animated comedy film “Minions” from Illumination Entertainment. The six-time Spanish champion said he still needs to clear up music rights for other parts of the program, but that he is close to tying things up.
“Huge THANK YOU to everyone who reposted, shared, and supported,” Sabaté’ said on his Instagram stories. “Because of you, Universal Studios reconsidered and officially granted the rights for this one special occasion.”
“There are still a couple of things to be tied up with the other 2 musics from the program, but we are so close to accomplishing it!” the Spanish figure skater wrote on social media. “AND IT’S ALL THANKS TO YOU.”
“I’m so happy to see that the minions hitting Olympic ice is becoming real again!!,” he said. “I’ll keep you posted.
On Monday, Sabaté’ announced that days before the Winter Olympics began, he was made aware of copytrights issue with his “Minions” music.
“I was informed that I am no longer permitted to use this program due to copyright clearance issues,” Sabate explained Monday, four days before the opening ceremony. “I will face this challenge head-on and do everything I can to make the best of the situation.”
Sabate is not considered a medal contender, but he has won over crowds with his Minions program, where he dresses in a yellow T-shirt and blue overalls to invoke those cheeky characters. But his whimsical program hangs in the balance.
If he’s not cleared overall, the 26-year-old will have to turn to one of his old programs when he takes the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena for the men’s short program next Tuesday.
Even that is not so simple: Sabate’s short program last season was set to music by the Bee Gees, and he used the same music for this year’s free skate. That means he would be in the unenviable position of skating twice to the same music.
The men’s short program is scheduled for Feb. 10, giving Sabaté just under a week to develop a new plan for the competition, if not cleared.
Figure skaters have long faced music rights issues
Sabaté is far from the only one on the ice facing music issues this season.
In January, U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu said her free skate to Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” is unlikely to be seen at the Winter Olympics.
“I don’t even think I’m going to do [it] at the Olympics,” Liu told Olympics.com last month. “But I really wanted to do it once at least. … I always wanted to do ‘MacArthur Park’ for the individual free skate event.”
Liu debuted the original program in September 2025, but since then, it has undergone several changes amid music rights issues.
“At first I wanted the orchestral version, but … you can’t just use someone’s orchestral version of ‘Bloody Mary’ off YouTube,” Liu said to Olympics.com. “So, no orchestral, no ‘Bloody Mary.’ That’s how it was in my head.”
Despite the issues, Liu told Olympics.com that her program with “MacArthur Park” was always the vision for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
During the last Winter Olympics, U.S. pairs figure skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were sued by a music duo over a copyright violation. The pair used the recording of “House of the Rising Sun,” owned by Heavy Young Heathens. The two brothers produce music for use in movies, TV shows, video games and commercials.