Incarcerated Pedophile Gary Glitter Reportedly Set To Receive Significant Payday Thanks To Song In Joker | Celebrity Net Worth 2026

The feature film Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix, currently in theaters, has been a perfect storm of controversy since before it was released, and now yet another audience outrage has been added to the pile. It all started with a brief scene in which the 1972 stadium rock classic "Rock and Roll Part 2," sometimes known as "The Hey Song," appears in the film. The controversy surrounding this song has to do with the fact that its artist, Gary Glitter, is currently incarcerated in England for various charges of sexual assault on underage girls, and CNBC and other outlets report that the song's use in the film will result in significant royalties for the singer – while other sources suggest that Glitter won't actually get paid for the song's use in the movie at all.

Many audience members are unhappy to hear that a fraction of the money they paid for their ticket to see Joker has gone towards Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, all because of about two minutes of screen time for a song that has already generated plenty of royalties for the disgraced artist. Back in 2014, for example, Billboard reported that the song's use at NHL games was generating about $250,000 in royalties per year, much of which go to Glitter and his co-writer on the song, producer Mike Leander. The song's continued use in the US at sporting events is considered to be a byproduct of Glitter's low profile in the US compared to the UK, where his crimes (and work in general) are much more well known. But the song has largely faded from its former ubiquity, which makes its use in the film even more surprising.