Rihanna accused of plagiarism

Rihanna accused of plagiarism

Iconic gay photographer David LaChapelle has accused Rihanna of plagiarising his work in the film clip for her lastest hit S&M.

The song, currently sitting at number one on the ARIA singles chart, has already been banned in 11 countries due its sexually explicit lyrics and continues to stir up controversy with new allegations that the video bears more than a passing resemblance to the artist’s trademark style.

After seeing the clip, LaChapelle sent Riri and Perez Hilton (who appears in the video) the following tweet: “The next time you make a David LaChapelle music video you should probably hire David LaChapelle.”

This isn’t the first time the rumoured 2011 Sydney Mardi Gras Party performer has been accused of borrowing ideas from other artists.

Her Rude Boy video looked a lot like M.I.A.’s Boyz, prompting the hip hop star to re-tweet this comment:

“If @Rihanna really sold her sole 2 tha deville than y cant saiten cum up wit sumpthin that dont look like a @_M_I_A_”

There certainly are distinct similarities between S&M and LaChapelle’s work, which become more obvious in the side by side comparison of screenshots and photographs above.

Do you think Riri has sticky fingers or is it just an unfortunate coincidence?

Watch the video (below) and decide!

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5 responses to “Rihanna accused of plagiarism”

  1. Not sure. The images in question are not that specific. In every S&M -themed video there’s the lady walking a “dog”. The scene on the desk looks like a scene I’ve seen variations on hundreds of times in all sorts of videos. (Britney Spears to mention just 1)
    If the paper dress & Saran wrap scene was a LaChappelle, i’d be conviinced, cause that is pretty unusual. But the other scenes mentioned are almost generic, so I find it hard to say that they were specifically plagiarised.