Matt Zane has come forward with a new press release revealing that he has been hit with a cease and desist regarding his upcoming documentary on the final years of Static-X vocalist/guitarist Wayne Static and his Static‘s wife Tera Wray. Zane, known for fronting Society 1 and his work in the adult entertainment industry, had previously worked with Wayne numerous times prior to his death 2014 death. Zane had also worked with Wray prior to her passing in 2016.
Zane‘s unauthorized documentary has been met with direct opposition from the families of Static and Wray, who indicated they would respond with legal action against Zane should his project continue. Undeterred, Zane launched crowdfunding for the documentary last week, stating at the time:
“I understand the family’s concerns, especially Wayne’s sister Aimee who is a wonderful person, but my obligation isn’t to the families — it’s to Wayne and Tera. They asked me to do this, and I know they would want the focus to be on the two of them.”
As part of the project, Zane also revealed that he had six unreleased songs he worked on with Static which he intended to potentially repurpose for the film through AI. He claimed that those tracks were done in 2013 and featured Wayne‘s vocals, as well as songwriting ideas. Given the aforementioned opposition voiced by the families, it seemed unlikely they would sign off on giving him clearance to use the tracks as is.
A statement shared on Zane‘s social media yesterday (December 14th) regarding the family having since served him with a cease & desist order reads as follows:
‘The estate and family of late STATIC-X frontman Wayne Static have issued a cease and desist letter to filmmaker Matt Zane, following their recent public statement in which they “strenuously object” to Zane’s announcement of an unauthorized documentary focusing on Wayne Static and his wife, Tera Wray.
The legal notice arrived just days after the family made clear they were prepared to take action to halt any unapproved production. In a statement, the families said, “We are not interested in the further development of any unauthorized biography or documentary…”
Zane, however, remains defiant.
“This won’t stop me. I’m ready and willing to take this as far as it goes. If it ends up in court, so be it. This movie will be made and released if it’s the last thing that I do,” said Zane.
Zane has also questioned why his project has been singled out when multiple unauthorized documentaries about Wayne Static already exist online.
“If you go to YouTube right now you’ll see multiple unauthorized documentaries about Wayne Static with hundreds of thousands of views. None of them were threatened with legal action. I’m the only one served with a cease and desist letter — and I haven’t even started production yet. Why am I being singled out?” Zane stated.
“Since this all started, it made me remember something Wayne told me once that’s helped me stay focused. I actually searched to see if I still had the email so I could relay it properly,” said Zane.
According to Zane, Wayne Static wrote:
“I’ve always felt people are too dumb to understand what’s really going on around us. It seems like you share that feeling.”
As tensions escalate, the dispute appears far from over. Whether resolved privately or in court, Zane insists the documentary will move forward — setting the stage for a highly publicized clash between an artist’s estate and a filmmaker claiming to honor his late friend’s legacy.’
