Chris Brown Called Out For Allegedly Stealing Artwork To Promote Clothing Brand

BYAron A.21.2K Views
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Chris Brown performs onstage during TIDAL X: Brooklyn at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on October 17, 2017 in New York City.
Chris Brown might be in some trouble.

Chris Brown's seems to have gotten himself into a bit of hot water today. The rapper recently posted a picture on his Instagram page to promote his clothing line, Black Pyramid. However, the image itself seems to be an edit from an original picture done by artist, Gabriel Picolo, from his "Casual Teen Titans" series. Picolo took to Twitter earlier to call our Breezy for lifting his artwork without proper authorization or credit.

Gabriel Picolo took to Instagram to share side by side portraits of his original drawing to the edited version seen on Chris Brown's Instagram page. "Chris Brown went all the way to edit one of my drawings and repost it on his 42 million followers account... without credit." He wrote. He explained to Complex that "Casual Teen Titans" series was a reimagination of Teen Titans doing teenager stuff. After the photos went viral, he went on to do some promo artwork for DC Comics. 

He ended up seeing the edited version of his image through a fan who sent him a screenshot through his DM's and he wasn't definitely not happy about it.

"I was mad as I usually get when big accounts repost my content without credit, but I was even more shocked that a 40-million-followers artist did it,” he said to the publication. "It’s beyond disrespectful because Chris would probably freak out if one of his song got plagiarized."

After he called out Chris Brown, the image was taken down from his Instagram page. However, it was initially posted to one of Brown's Instagram fan pages. The image has since been taken down but Picolo still has issues with the fact that Brown reposted his work without the proper credits.

"It doesn’t take the responsibility out of Chris […] On twitter people told me that this is far from being the first time that Chris reposted other artist’s work without credit.” He said to them. However, he doesn't plan on taking any legal actions. 

Since taking it down, Brown has responded to the accusations and wrote on Instagram, "No one cares about a damn instapic bruh... lame ass n*gga... suck it."

About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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