The tea is hot this morning, children: Sara Pope, an internationally recognized artist, has filed a lawsuit against Kylie Jenner. She claims that Jenner ripped off one of her original artworks to promote the star's upcoming reality TV series, "Life of Kylie."
Kylie Jenner is being sued, you say?
Because she *allegedly* ripped off an artist, you say?
HMMM.
This is Pope's iconic painting, "Temptation Neon." She created it in 2015.
According to the documents obtained by TMZ, the artist claims, "Kylie made her own eerily similar graphic, plastered it on social media and used it to promote 'Life of Kylie.'"
Though Sara has created an entire series of "neon lips" paintings — because YEAH, that's oil paint, not a photograph — the half-bite lips pictured above remains her most famous and recognizable work.
Jenner's *allegedly* lifted version appears at the beginning of the trailer for her new reality show — and it DOES look pretty similar.
According to Variety, the eight-episode show "will follow Jenner as she navigates her life as an entrepreneur, fashion designer, author, television and social media star, and CEO of Kylie Cosmetics. The show will also follow Jenner in her personal life, including spending time with her close friend Jordyn Woods."
You can watch the full trailer here.
If this song sounds familiar, that's because it is. It's not the first time Kylie has been sued over her lip drips.
Makeup artist Vlada Haggerty, aka Vlada MUA, made headlines late last year after filing a lawsuit against Kylie Cosmetics for stealing her art — including this ICONIC rose gold "lip drip" image.
In a statement issued at the time the suit was filed, Haggerty's lawyer said, "Vlada Haggerty is known for pioneering the dripping lip art style… Additionally, Kylie Cosmetics sells its products under a logo that is so similar to the dripping lip art style that symbolizes Ms. Haggerty’s makeup artist brand that she receives daily inquires as to whether she is associated with Kylie Cosmetics. Theft by big brands like Kylie Cosmetics from original artists without proper licensing and attribution must stop."
It's also not the first time that someone on Jenner's team has supposedly gotten a little too "inspired" by another artist's work.
On the left is an original work created by Vlada Haggerty and frequent collaborator Julia Kuzmenko. On the right is a promo image created by Marcelo Cantu and Kylie Cosmetics to promote the holiday 2016 line.
Again: The similarities are STRIKING.
And let us also not forget the time Kendall and Kylie *allegedly* stole images from famous musicians — including Tupac — and stamped their own faces and logos overtop.
Here's our full breakdown of THIS particular can of worms — though Kendall + Kylie pulled the line of T-shirts, it appears the lawsuits filed by the artists, photographers, and families whose work was appropriated have not yet been dropped or settled.
While Kylie has not yet responded to these claims, a "source" is claiming that Jenner isn't to blame.
Per TMZ, "Sources close to the production of "Life of Kylie" tell TMZ the lip design in question was independently created by a third party, and Kylie herself had nothing to do with the process."
We'll update you as new details on this suit come to light.
As I observe every time one of these lawsuits is filed: The Kardashian-Jenners are a MAJOR cultural force. They have access to the finest creative minds in the world to come up with new and exciting imagery, and their approval can put indie designers, photographers, and artists on the map.
Simply TAKING from artists, as Jenner and her team have been accused of doing multiple times now, is not OK.
Maybe Kylie and her kreative team should "realize stuff" about original work…
