Many agreements in the entertainment industry contain morals
clauses. These are provisions that provide a party with the right
to terminate the agreement (and stop paying or even receive a
partial refund of money already paid) in the event that any
individual violates the provision. Morals clauses are especially
important in endorsement agreements, because the brand paying the
celebrity endorser is paying for the image of the celebrity at the
time of the agreement. For example, if a brand had paid this guy to endorse its products prior to June
17, 2013, on June 18th it woke-up to the news that an accused
murderer may have been the face of its brand. Not good.
Morals clauses are often heavily negotiated. For example, an
attorney representing the talent may insist that the morals clause
may only be triggered if the talent is actually convicted of a
felony. The attorney will argue that their client is innocent until
proven guilty and should not be punished if they are not
