French Artist Sues Lady Gaga for Allegedly Stealing Visuals in "Born This Way"

Kinda late, but ok.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

A French artist named Orlan is suing Lady Gaga and the subsidiary of Universal in Paris. Orlan seeks $31.7 million or 7.5% of Born This Way album and video profits. Orlan claims mother monster stole her visuals and aesthetic for her third album. The lawsuit details the beginning of the video for the album's lead single which features Lady Gaga with a decapitated head and heavy make-up. It is kind of similar to Orlan’s sculpture “Femme Avec Tête” (“Woman With Head”) from 1996 below.


Of course, Gaga has been accused of stealing visuals before. You can also see above that Orlan's facial implants have been sported by the pop star before. And the meat dress the caught a lot of attention in 2010 worn at the MTV Video Music Awards was a borrowed concept from artist Jana Sterbak that appears below.



The line between inspiration and stealing is blurry, with many musicians finding themselves in hot water. Beyonce has been accused of stealing work by Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker but the issue didn't make its way into court. Rihanna was also accused of stealing images for her video S&M. We'll see how this all plays out.

[viaArtinfo / AnimalNewYork]

Latest in Style