A bubbling rivalry between Jack White and The Black Keys has risen to the surface today as a result of the fall-out from Karen Elson‘s decision to take out a restraining order on her ex-husband.
As part of the legal proceedings, Elson submitted a number of emails exchanged between herself and White which relate to the care of their two children, one of which contains a passage from White that describes The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach as an ‘asshole’ who ‘pushes himself into my world’.
Comparisons between White’s defunct band The White Stripes and The Black Keys have been numerous as the latter’s success has continued to grow, but White has in the past appeared to be rankled by the links, once telling Rolling Stone he has ‘a lot more to do with Jay Z than the Black Keys’, while he was also reported to have prevented the duo from recording in his Nashville studio.
And now, one of the emails apparently obtained by TMZ has laid that tension to bare, with a message sent by White to Elson regarding their children attending to the same school as Auerbach’s reading:
“My concern with Auerbach is because I don’t want the kids involved in any of that crap. You aren’t thinking ahead. That’s a possible twelve fucking years I’m going to have to be sitting in kids chairs next to that asshole with other people trying to lump us in together. He gets yet another free reign to follow me around and copy me and push himself into my world.”
Jack White has launched a counter-motion in response to Elson’s restraining order, stating that he ‘does not want to be portrayed as something he is not’.