The news site behind claims Tame Impala plagiarised one of their songs from an Argentinian pop star have revealed their story was a hoax. However, the story may still have legal ramifications for the Australian band.
Earlier this week, Chilean news site Rata claimed to have found similarities between a Tame Impala song and ‘Océano’, a 1989 hit by Argentine child pop star Pablito Ruiz. The following side-by-side video was posted as proof.
However, when tracked down by Rolling Stone, editors at the site admitted their story was fake.
“It was a joke,” editors Raúl Álvarez and Patricio Pérez told Rolling Stone. “We were at a party and had that idea. Curiously, it was viralized pretty fast. We never thought we’d had this impact, and we’re very surprised about it.”
Ruiz has since spoken out about the story and, again according to Rata, stated that he is consulting with lawyers before deciding whether to take legal action.”Obviously there is plagiarism. Not if you have done it on purpose or not, but there are seven bars that are equal to my song,” Ruiz is quoted as saying.
Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker seemed bemused by the whole affair and, when asked for a comment, simply said, “This is a joke, right?”