Man Who Bought Amy Winehouse Foundation Domain Name Says He’s ‘Not Exploiting Anything’

Amy Winehouse's father is having a hard time getting the Amy Winehouse Foundation -- which would provide support to those suffering from addictions similar to the ones his daughter battled during her life -- off the ground.

The problem lies in the fact that a wily, web-savvy "businessman" registered the organization's name and then purchased the website domain out from under his nose, making it a bit of a legal headache. Winehouse even returned charity funding donations while he focuses on the logistics of the organization.

The Guardian reports that Martin McCann registered a company called Amy Winehouse Foundation Ltd and bought the domain name AmyWinehouseFoundation.com, thus prohibiting Mitch Winehouse from doing so and furthering his plans. But McCann is not going to be strong-armed by the late singer's father.

McCann, a West London resident, has said that he will not hand over the rights to the website until he receives an apology. While he never even met the singer or her family, he still registered the name and the domain. "Detach yourself from emotions and think business," McCann said to The Sun. "I'm not exploiting anything yet. I've just bought some domain names. Anybody could have. It only takes the click of a mouse."

While that might be true and while it's certainly divorced from any sort of human empathy, what other reason would McCann have for purchasing those rights than "business" and to profit from them? They are obviously desired by Winehouse in his hopes to get the foundation up and running and helping others.

McCann's ownership of these assets is becoming problematic. "All these donations that are coming in -- we don't know what to do with them at the moment," Mitch Winehouse has said. "We haven't got [a] bank [account] in that name." He said that McCann offered to sell the domain name and even approached his daughter's ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, about purchasing it.

Winehouse eventually called McCann a "d—head." McCann's reply? "I'm not the d---head," he said. "The d---head is sitting over there without the name in his possession."

McCann also said that he registered the foundation in honor of a different Amy Winehouse. That we have a difficult time believing. "She's not the only Amy Winehouse in the world," he said. "I'm not ashamed or embarrassed." So if it's for a "different" Amy Winehouse, why does he want an apology to negotiate the transfer of the assets? Hmm ...

... It sure sounds like McCann is looking to make some sort of profit from having the wherewithal to snatch the domain name and the foundation name rights up before Winehouse did. Winehouse was vocal, while still grieving, about starting a foundation in his daughter's name and that is part of the problem. McCann exploited the availability of the name by swooping in on it before Papa Winehouse had a chance to properly sort out the business affairs.