Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" single rakes in more controversy, this time attracting a copyright infringement lawsuit from collaborated Christian artists.
Perry allegedly ripped off a 2008 song from a collaboration of Christian rappers. The similarities between Perry's "Dark Horse" and Missouri artist Flame's "Joyful Noise" are debatable, but Flame, Chike Ojukwu, Lecrae Moore and Emanuel Lambert insist their single was plagiarized.
Stream the singles simultaneously for comparison:
The lawsuit was served against Perry and Capitol Records, among others, filed at St. Louis federal court Tuesday. Apart from claiming damages from copyright infringement, Flame and company also insist the single tainted their reputation as Christian artists.
The official lawsuit details the complaint: "And by any measure, the devoutly religious message of 'Joyful Noise' has been irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in 'Dark Horse.' Indeed, the music video of 'Dark Horse' generated widespread accusations of blasphemy and an online petition signed by more than 60,000 demanding removal of an offensive religious image from the video." (huffingtonpost.com)
Katy Perry's 'Dark Horse' previously buckled into similar pressure; the music video's religious undertones attracted attention from protesters February, demanding the appearance of an Allah pendant removed in a clip, due to a "portrayal of blasphemy."
It took a while for Flame to recognize the similarities between the songs. When comparison videos persisted online, the Missouri rappers noticed and seriously considered filing the lawsuit.
Flame claimed the single irreparably tarnished the message of "Joyful Noise," which received a Gospel Music Association Dove Award nomination in 2008. As indicated in their filed lawsuit: "Joyful Noise is irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in 'Dark Horse'." (stltoday.com)
Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" sold more than 5 million copies as of May 2014, her sixth single to surpass the mark.
