Beyonce is in hot water after dropping that Lemonade trailer.
Beyonce Knowles went viral after releasing Lemonade to the public, but a week before her album was released, Beyonce posted a trailer on YouTube and now she’s getting sued.
According to a new lawsuit filed in New York, this trailer was copied without permission from a short film titled Palinoia. According to reports, Matthew Fulks, an independent filmmaker and creative director at WDRB, is suing Beyonce. Fulks says he was contacted to direct a video by Beyonce and as a result, Palinoia was sent to Columbia executives. Five months later filming of Lemonade began. From The Hollywood Reporter:
“The number of aesthetic decisions included in Plaintiff’s PALINOIA Work that are parroted in Defendants’ LEMONADE Trailer demonstrates that the LEMONADE Trailer is substantially similar to the PALINOIA Work,” states the complaint. “The misappropriated content includes both the particular elements that the Plaintiff chose to comprise the PALINOIA Work and the coordination and arrangement of those particular elements.”
According to the civil complaint, there are 39 seconds of his material included in the 60-second trailer. The images were allegedly taken directly from Palinoia short film.
The visual similarities cited are “graffiti and persons with heads down,” “red persons with eyes obscured,” “parking garage,” “stairwell,” “black and white eyes,” “title card screens,” “the grass scene,” “feet on the street,” “side-lit ominous figures,” all adding up to a supposed total concept and feel substantially similar to the short film.
You can watch Matthew Fulks’ short film, Palinoia below.
Fulks is demanding “all profits attributed to exploitation of his work including from sales of the Lemonade album.”
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