Weird Al Yankovic encourages people who can't watch his own biopic to pirate it
If you want to watch Weird: The Al Yankovic Story but don't have the normal means to do so, the man himself is fine with you pirating it.
For those of you who haven't heard, Weird is the biopic of the famous parody musician 'Weird' Al Yankovic, though if you're coming into this expecting a totally accurate telling of his story then you're likely to be disappointed.
Starring Daniel Radcliffe as the famous performer, it loosely follows the real Weird Al's journey as he makes a living off parodying iconic songs.
Advert
Some parts of the film are true, but movie director Eric Appel admitted that he did 'absolutely no research' on Weird Al's life, and it would have been easy considering he co-wrote and produced it with Yankovic.
Then again, it's more of a parody of the sheer number of celebrity biopics than an attempt to accurately tell his story.
With so many biopics out there which play fast and loose with the truth or straight up invent things while claiming to be the 'true story', it's quite refreshing for one to just be honest about the dishonesty.
Originally based off a parody film trailer released by YouTube channel Funny or Die, the movie was released on US streaming service Roku on 4 November, but there's been a bit of a problem with that.
The Roku Channel isn't available everywhere, meaning it's impossible for people in some parts of the world to legally watch the movie, but luckily Weird Al himself has given them his blessing to pirate his biopic.
With (possibly) hordes of people desperate to watch Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, the star was asked on Twitter how someone living in Australia (where Roku isn't available) was supposed to watch the movie.
And Yankovic had the perfect response: "Roku's working on it. In the meantime there's VPN (Very Probably No) way to watch it legally. I'm sure you have a TORRENT of other questions, but I have to move along, sorry."
It might be a bit hard to spot but if you read between the lines, but there's actually a teeny tiny bit of subtext hidden in there suggesting he's fine with people who pirate the movie.
Obviously that's illegal and doing illegal things is very naughty, even if the guy himself says he's fine with you pirating his biopic. But you can always say 'Weird Al told me to do it'.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is available to stream now on The Roku Channel, and some other less than legal parts of the internet that Weird Al suggests you try if you can't get Roku wherever you live.
Topics: Film and TV, Daniel Radcliffe
Joe Harker