Beyonce is being sued by independent filmmaker Matthew Fulks for her Lemonade trailer, which allegedly copies his short film Palinoia.
In the lawsuit, the Kentucky-based filmmaker is asserting that a part of her project copied some elements of his short film, which he finished back in 2014. The plaintiffs listed on the suit include Sony Music, Columbia Records and Parkwood Entertainment Company, who represents Beyonce.
While Fulks isn’t taking issue with the full-length Lemonade film, he claims that “graffiti and persons with heads down," “red persons with eyes obscured,” “parking garage,” “stairwell,” “feet on the street” and “the grass scene,” in the 60-second trailer are far to similar to his Palinoia short film. The lawsuit further says that the elements amount to similarities “rending the works substantially similar in both their total concept and feel and in many particular elements.” According to SPIN, Fulks even finds the “auditory sequence” similar.
In the lawsuit, Fulks alleges that he had once been in the running to direct a music video for Columbia-signed artists MS MR. According to Fulks, he had submitted samples of his work to numerous Columbia representatives when trying to push it through, particularly video executive Bryan Younce. Younce is credited on Beyonce’s self-titled album from 2013, although he was reportedly not involved with the making of Lemonade.
Fulks is demanding that he be given a percentage of the profits from the full-length Lemonade film as well as the album, but Beyonce’s representatives have yet to comment on the suit.
In other Beyonce news, there are rumors that she and husband Jay-Z are gearing up to release a joint album addressing the marriage issues between the two found on Lemonade. According to NME, the album has been in the making since 2014 and has already finished recording. Like the Lemonade album, it will allegedly only be available through Tidal.
