Rihanna settles lawsuit over her ‘S&M’ video

Singer pays out an undisclosed sum after photographer David LaChapelle sues for plagiarism

Rihanna has settled a lawsuit with fashion photographer David LaChapelle over her ‘S&M’ video.

The singer settled out of court for an undisclosed sum after the snapper claimed certain scenes in the clip for her 2010 single – directed by Melina Matsoukas – were plagiarised from his own shoots, reports London’s Evening Standard. He launched a lawsuit seeking $1 (£633,000) million in damages earlier this year.

He said:

I like RiRi. This is not personal, it’s strictly business. Musicians commonly pay to sample music or use someone’s beats and there should be no difference when sampling an artist’s visuals.

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He pointed out similarities between the video and eight of his photos, including one of a dominatrix walking a chained man on a leash, a woman in latex headgear and Rihanna posing in front of newspaper headlines, which he argued was similar to a shot he took of Lady Gaga posing with newspaper headlines stuck to her body.

Photographer Philipp Paulus is also suing the singer over the video. He claims one of his images were also recreated without permission in the clip.

Rihanna recently unveiled the artwork to her forthcoming album ‘Talk That Talk’. She is currently in the middle of a mammoth UK arena tour, which includes 10 nights at London‘s O2 Arena.

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