Singer Morris Day on Thursday accused Prince’s estate of blocking him from using the name Morris Day & The Time.
In an Instagram post, the 64-year-old said Prince “had no problem” with him using the name but “suddenly, the people who control his multi million dollar estate want to rewrite history by taking my name away from me, thus impacting how I feed my family.”
Day said he has spent 40 years “building up a name and legacy that Prince and I came up with” and “put my blood, sweat, and tears into bringing value to that name.”
In December, lawyers for Prince's estate claimed in a letter that "Day has no right to use or register ‘The Time’ in any form."
Prince formed The Time in 1981 and the group – which included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – had hits like “Jungle Love” and “Jerk Out” from four albums.
Day left the group in 1985 but returned in 1990.
In 2011, Prince prevented Day and the others from releasing an album as The Time, prompting them to put it out as The Original 7ven.
“The good thing about it was in a way he pushed us out of the nest, so to speak, because we had to rethink this whole thing and I think we approached it differently,” Day said, in an interview at the time. “So in a way, he forced us to think outside the box and expand this whole thing. And I think it made the project even greater.”
A spokesperson for Prince’s estate said in a statement said it was “surprised and disappointed” by Day’s Instagram post, which was not “entirely accurate.” The rep said there have been “amicable discussions” and the estate is “open to working proactively with Morris to resolve this matter.”
Prince died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016.