Ariana Grande accused of 'copying' artist with her Halloween costume video
6 November 2019, 16:20
Artist Emily Jane Davis says Ariana's Halloween video looks ‘exactly like’ her 2017 art series, 'Beauty Interrupted'.
Ariana Grande is undoubtedly one of, if not the best celebrity on social media when it comes to Halloween. Over the years, she's delivered some memorable, detail specific costumes and, in 2019, her glamorous Twilight Zone "Eye of the Beholder"-inspired lewk knocked everyone else's efforts out of the park.
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Halloween is done for the year but The Daily Dot now reports that an artist named Emily Jane Davis has said that Ariana 'plagiarised' her work. The New York-based artist told the Daily Dot that the Halloween costume video looks "exactly like" her own art series.
Davis shared her “Beauty Interrupted” series on Instagram in 2017. The synopsis for the series reads: "Kick off your Halloween season with a wonderfully eerie short film by photographer Emily Jane Davis in collaboration with Krystall Schott (writer/editor/model).
Exploring the inner turmoil and disintegration of the “perfect woman,” Beauty Interrupted evokes the dark side of Old Hollywood glamour. The film is a wry critique of the male gaze and the objectification of the silent woman. It acts as a poignant commentary about society today—one that Davis warns can “strip [women] of their human identity.” Scary stuff indeed."
The image and the video below bare some visual similarities to Ariana's old Hollywood glam Halloween video. But while Davis uses music, Ariana uses Rod Serling's Twilight Zone voiceover.
Of course, this wasn't a professional campaign from Ariana and she made zero money from what is literally just a fun social post to show off a Halloween costume. Davis isn't seeking any compensation though, she just felt like she needed to call it out.
“What is most important to me is calling attention to bigger artists stealing ideas and work. It is wrong and takes away an artist’s voice,” she told the Daily Dot.
“Artists work extremely hard to craft original ideas and it takes immense time and energy to bring them to life—especially on low budgets,” Davis said. “Then when I see celebrities and their teams take that hard work, it is really heartbreaking.”
Daily Dot also notes that she said she reached out to Grande’s team but hasn’t heard back.
