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And Finally Artist News Legal
Cardi B threatened with legal action over Marge Simpson Halloween costume
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 29 November 2022
Cardi B has been threatened with legal action over her recreation of an image of Marge Simpson as part of a Halloween photoshoot. Not by the makers of ‘The Simpsons’, though, as you might be thinking. The lawsuit comes from Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo, whose own drawing of Marge Simpson was used as the reference for the Cardi B shot.
If you’re already a bit confused, I apologise, I’m about to introduce several more layers to this.
Palombo created his image of Marge Simpson in 2013, showing the cartoon character wearing a bottom-revealing dress designed by Thierry Mugler. His drawing was in turn based on a photograph in which model Violetta Sanchez is seen wearing said dress on the catwalk in 1995.
Now the artist says that he is planning to launch a lawsuit against Cardi B over her photograph in which she recreates the Marge/Mugler mash up. The issue, he says, is that while she included his drawing in a collection of images shared alongside her picture on Instagram, she did not actually credit him – saying only in the caption that her photo was “Mugler inspired”.
Palombo’s original image was created as part of his Marge Simpson Style Icon series, first published by Vogue in 2013. The series, which also saw famous images of Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and Audrey Hepburn recreated by the cartoon character, was intended as a reflection on gender equality.
“Cardi B and her collaborators have used my artwork without any authorisation, debasing its original meaning and only to amplify their image with a clear commercial purpose that has nothing to do with that path of social awareness that has always characterised my works”, says Palombo in a statement.
His lawyer, Claudio Volpi, adds: “Cardi B has illegitimately appropriated the work of Alexsandro Palombo for mere business purposes in defiance of the most elementary rules on copyright and Instagram policies, with the consequent serious risks, both of compensation and of discredit for her public image”.
Palombo complained about the use of his image on Instagram the day it was first published by Cardi B. In an update last week, he said: “We wrote to Mrs Cardi B and collaborators how come that they never contacted us for authorisation to use the artwork and didn’t mention or credit the artist, violating Meta policy about intellectual property rights. Still no answer”.
“(Extra)ordinary people are welcome to use my artworks for personal and non-commercial purposes”, he added. “To everyone else: Stop stealing [from] artists”.
No lawsuit has yet been filed and Cardi B is still to respond.
