In relation to her Marge Simpson Halloween costume, an Italian artist has threatened Cardi B with legal action.
Halloween and Legalities
On October 31, the rapper known by the stage name “Bodak Yellow,” Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, revealed her Halloween attire in an Instagram post.
In place of her customary green clothing, the Grammy-winning performer is seen in the images as the popular animated character wearing a 1995 Thierry Mugler black dress.
In her Instagram slideshow post, the mother of two also revealed the artwork that served as inspiration for her outfit. The piece of art was produced in 2013 as part of aleXsandro Palombo’s “Marge Simpson Style Icon” series, which was initially featured in Vogue UK.
The mother of two included Mugler in her caption but left Palombo out and untagged.
On Saturday, November 26, Palombo updated a post on Instagram to denounce the rapper and her use of his work.
The artist claimed that Cardi B and her associates “have used my artwork without any consent, degrading 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.”
Additionally, he asserted that he had previously written to Cardi B and her collaborators, photographer Jora Frantzis and stylist Kollin Carter, to explain why he hadn’t been contacted for permission to use his artwork.
We wrote to Mrs. Cardi B and her partners to ask why they hadn’t requested our permission to use the artwork and why they hadn’t acknowledged or given credit to the artist, in violation of Meta’s policy on intellectual property rights, he continued. Still no response.
Claudio Volpi, the attorney for Palombo, increased the level of the “appropriation” charges against his client’s creative work.
According to Volpi of Artnet News, “Cardi B has unlawfully hijacked the work of aleXsandro Palombo for purely commercial goals in violation of the most fundamental copyright and Instagram principles, with the accompanying substantial consequences, both of recompense and of dishonor for her public image.”
The attorney stated that after contacting Frantzis, Carter, and the Atlantic Records marketing team, he only heard back from Frantzis, who said she was “glad to add the credits” and wasn’t “known there was an artist behind this artwork.”
All parties concerned, including Atlantic Records chairman Craig Kallman, have received a formal notice, according to Volpi, requiring them to publish a “remedial” post with due credit to the artist within seven days of receiving it.
In the event that this demand is not fulfilled, Volpi threatened legal action, along with a demand for Palombo’s compensation.