Highup Entertainment Responds To STAYC’s Music Video Plagiarism Accusations
Rookie girl group STAYC has been taking over the K-Pop world with their debut and everyone has been impressed with what they have to offer. However, they recently made headlines with some serious plagiarism accusations regarding their music video. Highup Entertainment and Rigend Film, the company behind the production of STAYC’s music video have both stepped forward to address the allegations.
Highup Entertainment took to their official Twitter account to address all the accusations.
본사는 'SO BAD' MV 중 한 세트가 해외 아티스트 MV와 유사하다는 사실을 오늘(16일) 오후, 인지하게 되었으며, MV 제작사 측에 피드백을 요청하였습니다.
향후 같은 일이 재발하지 않도록 더욱 저작권 의식에 경각심을 가지고 세심히 제작하도록 하겠습니다.
— Highup Entertainment (@highup_ent) November 16, 2020
We recently heard about the allegations that one of the sets in the “So Bad” music video was similar to an overseas artist. We have requested feedback from the production company. In order to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future, we will be more aware of the copyright issues and make productions more carefully.
— Highup Entertainment
It was after Highup Entertainment’s statement that Rigend Film took to their official Instagram page to respond. With a photo of a black square, they addressed the controversy and relayed their apologies to fans.
Hello, this is Rigend Film. I am writing to express our official position in regards to the controversy surrounding STAYC’s music video plagiarism accusations. Rigend Film was in charge of supervising their music video and was involved in and is responsible for all the aspects such as planning, directing art, etc. We are ashamed and disheartened about the plagiarism controversy.
— Rigend Film
They continued on to explain how they believe the similarities came to happen and acknowledged their faults.
We decided to use a combination of various props (mirror balls, confetti, silver leaf background, trees, etc.) after consulting with the stage directors. It is clearly stated that there was no intent to plagiarize any of the scenes. The various props that we listed are props that we frequently use at Rigend Films. However, we acknowledge that the resulting scene through this combination of props led to a controversy that cannot be avoided.
— Rigend Film
Rigend Film concluded by apologizing to all those who were affected by the accusations.
We directly apologized to Highup Entertainment, STAYC and any other related staff who were concerned about the controversy. We would also like to tell you all that we are sorry. In the future, we hope to become a Rigend Film that produces even more creative videos so that the public can enjoy our productions. We apologize once again.
— Rigend Film
These statements come not too long after netizens found a striking similarity between STAYC’s “So Bad” music video and Miley Cyrus‘s music video for “Midnight Sky”.
