Ariana Grande is filing a lawsuit against Forever 21 for at least $10 million for allegedly hiring a model that resembles her, not long after failing to come to an endorsement deal.
Ariana Grande is filing a lawsuit against Forever 21 for at least $10 million for allegedly hiring a model that resembles her, not long after failing to come to an endorsement deal.
She recently had to cancel meet and greets due to her anxiety and depression being at an "all time high".
"I feel like the wisest decision would be to not do soundcheck party or [meet-and-greet] today and preserve my energy for the show."
After failing to make an endorsement deal with Ariana Grande, Forever 21 allegedly hired a look-a-like model to copy Ari's signature style, pose, accessories — and directly copied her song lyrics into their social media campaign.
According to the official complaint, Forever 21 reached out to Ariana Grande's representatives in anticipation of the release of her album thank u, next, hoping for an endorsement deal.
And by big hit I mean, make her and everyone associated with her brand quite a lot of money.
So, naturally, everybody wanted a piece of the pie.
However, they never came to any official agreements.
Negotiations were discussed, but the deal "never came to fruition.
"The amounts that Forever 21 offered to pay for the right to use Ms. Grande’s name and likeness were insufficient for an artist of her stature."
I'm amazed they thought that no one would notice...?
"Rather than pay for that right as the law requires, Defendants simply stole it by launching a misleading campaign across its website and social media platforms."
"By publishing at least 30 unauthorized images and videos misappropriating Ms. Grande’s name, image, likeness, and music in order to create the false perception of her endorsement."
Ariana asserted that the model in the campaign's hairstyle and accessory was "strikingly similar" to her own in the music video for 7 Rings.
To add insult to injury, the caption used in Forever 21's post mimicked the official lyrics of the song 7 Rings.
He claims that Forever 21's activity "constitutes a violation of California's right of publicity statute, false endorsement under the Lanham Act, trademark infringement and copyright infringement."
Forever 21 copied Ariana Grande — in what was quite possibly the peak of her career — without her permission, and she would like to be compensated for all the money they made off of her hard work and success.