John Oates Denies Secretly Trying to Sell His Half of Hall & Oates

The nature of the lawsuit between Daryl Hall and John Oates became public this week, after it was recently reported that Hall had sued his former partner for breach of contract and filed a temporary restraining order. But Oates is vehemently denying the claims, saying he’s “tremendously disappointed” the details have come to light.

It was revealed on Wednesday through unsealed court documents that Hall was attempting to block the sale of Oates half of Whole Oats Enterprises (WOE), a company the pair had formed to control some of the group’s assets, to a company called Primary Wave. The restraining order now makes sense, as it would grant a judge the ability to block the sale until it could be determined whether Oates had the legal rights to make the deal.

Hall claimed to have “blindsided” by the decision, which he believes was intentionally made known to him just two days before he was going on tour to “ambush” and distract him. “I have no intention of becoming partners with Primary Wave, and [Oates] cannot be permitted to thrust a new partner upon me in this outrageous fashion,” he stated in the legal docs.

Among other reasons for objecting to the sale is that Hall says Primary Wave has a reputation for exploiting copyrights and trademarks of artists after purchasing their catalogs. 

However, Oates has filed his own legal declaration in a Tennessee court, accusing Hall of making their private dispute public. “I am tremendously disappointed that Daryl Hall decided to file his declaration from our private arbitration in this proceeding and make inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements about me,” the 75-year-old said in his documents, according to TMZ. 

“Daryl has consistently and publicly been adamant about being perceived as an individual rather than as part of a duo or group,” Oates added, suggesting that the beef between the former partners is personal as well as professional.

In 2022, Hall and Oates went through a sort of “business divorce,” with Hall telling Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast the same year that Oates his “business partner” and not his “creative partner.” Unfortunately, it seems to all make sense now.