Famed photographer David LaChapelle is suing Rihanna for her new “S&M” music video which debuted last week according to Billboard.com. He claims that scenes from the actual video were directly lifted from a few photographs he shot from his LaChapelle works. The clip was shot by Rihanna’s friend and director Melina who also shot her “Rockstar 101″ video from the Rated R album.
In the suit, LaChapelle said Rihanna had appropriated eight of his images into the video, such as a shot where she is shown in profile against a blue background with a piece of candy on her tongue. LaChapelle said Rihanna’s video copied the “composition, total concept, feel, tone, mood, theme, colors, props, settings, decors, wardrobe and lighting” of his work.
He is suing for unspecified damages. A spokeswoman for Rihanna did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Check out David LaChapelle’s photos and some shots from the Rihanna video in question after the jump.
What do you think???
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Yup! Evidence is right there…come on.
so how is this rihannas fault .. she didnt direct it ! im confused lol
She co-directed it and came up with the concept of the video, she even bragged about it on twitter, so naming her directly in the suit is correct. Also, if he suing for compensation/damages who better to sue?
good artist copy, great artist steal_Picasso
should be suing the director, no???
exactly.
Yep, have to agree. but wouldnt blame it as much on rihanna as i would on melina.
this is a tough lawsuit. videos in and of themselves aren’t revenue generating vehicles and they contribute indirectly to an artist’s bottom line so what basis will LaChapelle’s attys have for damages?
not to mention this is frivolous as fuck?
My sentiments exactly.
Although (haha) they definitely did bite off of LaChapelle’s work…damn.
what you call frivolous the courts call copywrite/ plagarism…hello thats why we have Federal and State copywrite laws..? plus Chappelle has the funds to take this where ever he wants it, they should have just asked him to direct the vide
hey dickhead. part of the reason you launch a lawsuit is that you can show damages. damages… i.e. this is how rihanna’s action has prevented dude from making money or how rihanna’s action has made money using dude’s images.
how does a lawyer show those things without reasonable dispute? that’s right dickhead. he probably can’t. you can’t legally sales the sales of the single or her music or tour sales or her endorsement money comes from the video at all – so what money are you claiming?
so if you’re claiming money you can’t rightfully claim a reasonable judge is just gonna toss this bullshit out the window and tell you to resolve it yourselves – as he/she should. having the funds “to take this where ever he wants it” as you put it is ridiculous because this can quickly cost more than he can ever hope to recover as music niggas just ain’t caking like that off pure content anymore. it’s a dick move.
there’s a reason why there are other legal options in this instance – where damages aren’t clear but the theft is obvious – such as a cease and desist, etc. a cease and desist order would get rihanna to stop using the videos and cost him a fraction of the money he’s spending now on the lawsuit.
and the word is copyright, you stupid fuck.
lmao…so we’re writing dissertions on thelifefiles.com now? lool you got WAAY too much time on your hands STUPID FUCK!
Well Rihanna is the one at the awards show gettin acceptance speech so even technically its melina who stole the idea , rihanna is the one that should be pointed out cause she is gettin the most out of it !
+ i only agree when it comes to ur pics #1,2 a lil bit of 5 and 6
Pretty close, but Melina should come forward.
BTW, people re-do pictures all of the time. The Mona Lisa. IDK?
Rihanna and her team have the final say of whether the video gets conceptualized, produced and ultimately released which is why I’m guessing she’s being sued. Remember because of her status as a celebrity, she’s no longer just a person but Rihanna is a brand/product/company. Therefore, Rihanna is being sued.
luuuuuucy u have some splaing to dooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lmao she stays getting called out for copying people lol..Melina is also very unoriginal. Everything is so damn uncreative these days…people just blatantly copy shit. Crazy.
he probably knows Rhianna and just wants to help her stir up some controversy. Odd how the story went public the day after the Grammy’s….
They could be friends or something….
it come back around ooh