“We Won’t Stay Silent”: Artists Slam Chris Brown For ‘Copying’ Their Work In New Music Video
The allegations have been picked up by plagiarism name-and-shamer Diet Prada.
Famed abuser, harasser and musician Chris Brown has come under fire for the music video for his latest single, ‘Wobbled Up’ with G-Easy and Nicki Minaj, as two artists claim it rips directly from their work without compensation or credit.
The video, co-directed by Brown and frequent collaborator Arrad, is a surreal, hyper-sexualised journey through a tropical world. And, according to artist Marius Sperlich, it directly rips off two of his works shared online last October and August, which transform nipples into washing machine dials and bums into Island beaches. It, uh, makes more sense when you look at it.
Perlich says that he “won’t stay silent” on the issue, as issues of intellectual property are constant on the internet, and often bigger artists/brands profit off ideas and concepts lifted from ‘young, emerging artists’ who can’t afford to sue. In addition to his own work, Perlich notes similarities to the video’s bright, hyper-sexualised surreal world to the work of artists Tony Futura and Vanessa McKeown.
Futura also posted about the video, clarifying that he was not approached or credited either. He asks followers to proliferate the message as “credit saves creativity”; a few hours later, prolific account Diet Prada — who, with 1.3 million followers, has become a high-fashion watchdog worthy of a lengthy NYT profile — picked it up.
On their Instagram stories, Diet Prada catalogued more similarities to artists’ works across the music video. In addition to Perlich, Futura and McKeon, the account saw similarities to work by Catherine Losing, Jamie Calderon and designer Paul Fuentes.
As the story has gained traction, Purlich has provided two updates. He reminds people that it’s likely the artists involved weren’t across the art direction, and that critics should “stay friendly please”, and then that he has contacted the video’s production company directly.
Brown’s team has, as of publication, not publicly commented on the allegations.