No Gen Z, Hall and Oates aren’t married. But their legal drama is definitely getting messier

The gloves are off in the Hall and Oates battle royale.

In a filing in Nashville chancery court on Wednesday, Daryl Hall accused John Oates of “ultimate partnership betrayal” with his plan to sell his share of the Philly-born music duo’s joint venture.

According to an Associated Press report, Hall said Oates and his trustees, “surreptitiously sought to sell half of the WOE assets” — that’s Whole Oates Enterprises, the duo’s joint venture named after their 1971 debut album — ”without obtaining my written approval.”

Oates hit back in a filing of his own, taking issue with Hall’s “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements about me,” contending that “Daryl has consistently and publicly been adamant about being perceived as an individual rather than as part of a duo or group.

“Thus, he has insisted on our being known as ‘Daryl Hall and John Oates,’ rather than the more commonly known ‘Hall & Oates.’ On this point I agree.”

The legal squabble between the no-longer-intimate “Kiss On My List” partners, who are commonly regarded as the most commercially successful pop music duo of all time, went public before Thanksgiving.

Hall obtained a restraining order preventing Oates from selling his half of WOE, which, according to Hall’s declaration, includes Hall & Oates trademarks, personal name and likeness rights, record royalty income, and website and social media assets, the declaration states.

The duo have not performed together this year, and their Philly-focused HoagieNation Festival has not been staged since 2021, when it took place at the Mann Center in Fairmount Park.

Now, is the rift between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hit makers so severe that they will never be able to get “Back Together Again”? It doesn’t look good.

“I am deeply troubled by the deterioration of my relationship with, and trust in, John Oates,” Hall said in the declaration, going on to accuse Oates of becoming “adversarial and aggressive instead of professional and courteous.” Hall said he was entertaining Oates’ idea to dissolve their touring entity and a separate partnership as part of a “global divorce.”

In his own declaration, Oates sounded like he could, in fact, go for that: “I now must act with truthfulness and make decisions that are right for myself, my family, and my artistic future.”