In a twist befitting its subject, the premiere of a doc about Ol’ Dirty Bastard fell apart in fairly spectacular fashion this weekend.

ODB Dirty: Platinum Edition is a new film about the deceased Wu-Tang rapper/jester/lunatic. The premiere was scheduled to take place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Friday (ODB’s birthday, incidentally) as part of the NuHo Online Film Festival. Proceedings kicked off roughly as anticipated, with Cappadonna and Popa Wu – subbing in for Masta Killa and U-God, who were advertised to appear – taking part in an audience Q&A.

The audience were then told that the film could not actually be shown as a result of a cease and desist order. The culprit was named as “the ex-wife” by NuHo exec Chris Kanik, suggesting that ODB’s widow Icelene Jones was behind the legal logjam.

After a number of attempts to reach him, the organisers managed to secure a Skype link-up with RZA, who, upon being told about the legal difficulties, went on an angry screed about copyright law. The Wu head-honcho also confirmed once again that Raekwon was behind the continued delays to the crew’s forthcoming sixth solo LP.

On the topic of Wu-Tang, we toasted the anniversary of our second favourite album of the 1990s with a series of tributes: FACT’s Laurent Fintoni offered a superfan’s tribute to the album, and we’ve also examined some of the more outlandish Wu-Tang myths and legends.

[via Rolling Stone]