Ariana Grande has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit.
According to TMZ, Russian-born artist Vladimir Kush is suing the Sweetener singer over her 2018 "God Is a Woman" video. The plaintiff the visual includes imagery that is nearly identical to his candle artwork. Kush points to the video's 1:09 mark in which a woman's silhouette is seen inside a flame with a bank of clouds in the backdrop. The artist alleges the shot features undeniable similarities to his decades-old The Candle and The Candle 2 paintings. Check out a side-by-side comparison below.
Kush also claims the video's production company, Freenjoy, Inc., isn't new to ripping off artwork. The company was also named in a 2018 lawsuit filed by Lina Iris Viktor, a British-Liberian artist who claimed Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "All the Stars" video appropriated imagery from her Constellation series. Viktor's lawsuit was settled last month, but the details of the agreement were not made public.
According to TMZ, Kush is seeking an injunction to remove the "God Is a Woman" video from the internet. Freenjoy is listed as a co-defendant.
The visual has garnered nearly 2 million views as of Thursday night.
Complex has reached out to Ariana's and Kush's respective camps for comment.
