And there was a lot of push and pull in those days. And yeah, the paint manufacturer and the brush manufacturer, everybody had this platform for developing products and books. If you watch public television, that was a very, very robust genre on public television was people painting on TV. I will say that back in those days, in the ’80s, there were a lot of television artists. He can use images of Bob Ross and himself together to promote his products and services.”] Harsh Business Practices?ĭo you acknowledge that maybe there was a bit of brutality to the business in those early years? He can claim to paint ‘in the style of Bob Ross’ if he wishes. had asked to lift the NDA on Steve Ross and his partners: “Steve is able to use the Bob Ross name in connection with his own products and services in this context: ‘Bob Ross’ son Steve Ross’ or ‘Son of Bob Ross’ or similar. Joan Kowalski responded by confirming Bob Ross Inc. [Note: Steve Ross sent this response to her remarks via Netflix: “Until this week, BRI had me under an NDA so that I was legally prohibited from discussing specific details about the lawsuit publicly. In what feels like an effort to discredit me, they are now lifting the NDA to reveal that I was awarded a settlement. Specifically, what I received was a nominal fee that barely covered legal expenses. And sadly, I own zero rights to my dad’s name-my family name-from which others continue to profit.” The idea that this thing got snatched away from Steve-that’s just not at all what’s going on. There’s a lot more information that I think would make people feel better. The documentary was really all Steve and his two business partners. I want to say that there’s a lot more information that was not in the documentary that would help them better understand. “When the phone rings, maybe it’s not going to be somebody who just wants to gush about Bob for 15 minutes,” Kowalski says.Īpart from those who call to vent their anger or slam the business on social media, fans of the gentle landscape painter with the iconic Jiffy Pop hairdo want answers from Bob Ross Inc. Now when the phone rings at Bob Ross Inc., the dozen or so people who work there brace for an earful. The film depicted the company as exploitative after Ross’s death in 1995 and heartless toward his survivors, particularly Ross’s son, Steve Ross. After the scathing documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed debuted on Netflix, calls to the Herndon, Virginia, business turned angry. “We actually fight over answering the phone.” It’s what we are all doing here,” Kowalski says. “We’re so used to just having people swoon over Bob. She kept doing it now and then, even after becoming president of the company. It used to be one of the best jobs in the office. Joan Kowalski’s first job at Bob Ross Inc., the business her parents cofounded in 1985 with the beloved TV painter, was answering the telephone.
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