Music

Diplo stole artwork and was a mysogynistic jerk about it

by Mark Teo

While Diplo’s a phenomenal producer—and an in-demand one, who’s worked on significant projects with everyone from Snoop’s Snoop Lion to Skrillex’s Jack Ü—over the last few months, one thing has become clear: He’s also a giant dick. (Maybe we should start calling him Dicklo.) Indeed, the mind behind the Mad Decent Block party has caused his own share of fires: He came under fire for banning Kandi jewelry at his events. He publicly backed an obnoxious Kickstarter that raised funds to get Taylor Swift a new booty, which prompted Lorde to tell him to “get his tiny penis fixed.” And now, he’s been caught red-handed stealing artwork from the internet—and when he was called out, acted like a misogynistic dickhole.

The artwork in question was created by Brooklyn artist Rebecca Mock, who created this animated GIF. Far from being Reddit fodder, it’s actually a gorgeous illustration. According to Reddit, she was actually paid to create the image for a magazine.

Diplo then used the .GIF on a teaser for a new Jack Ü song, which he shared on Instagram.

We get it: It’s the internet. Things get shared, stolen, and repurposed all the time. But Diplo’s a major artist, and he could’ve resolved this situation quite easily: He could’ve asked for Mock’s permission to use her artwork. He could’ve compensated her—or heck, commissioned her to create a piece of custom work. Barring it all, he could’ve simply apologized for his mistake.

But he did none of those things. Instead, he later edited his teaser to credit her .GIF, and took to Twitter to be a total dingus about it. Here’s what he wrote, in a since-deleted tweet.

Then, when he was called out for his shitty behaviour, he reacted with—surprise surprise—more bad behaviour. Here are a few more screenshots, compiled via Jezebel.

Again, this all could’ve been avoided with a simple apology—if Diplo credited Mock then acknowledged he’s made an error, the issue would’ve disappeared. Finally, after going back and forth with his critics, he posted a formal apology on Twitlonger.

@rebeccamock sorry if i hurt your feelings, or trivialize your art… lets go thru the steps to see where we are now.. so maybe I was posting music I’m working on.. i used a gif, and I recorded on a studio computer.. found out later that u made said gif (it was via google image search came up with Wifflegif.com and thats who posted your gif) and then u said it was hard to reach me on twitter.. but i saw it and i wrote u that it was only a snapchat where the gif was playing on my computer while i was working on the remix.. it never came over me that wifflegif.com was a site where artist have there gifs for sale or whatever.. i have no idea..

But out of respect for you (you were polite enough in your correspondence) i saved the snapchat to my phone and posted it on instagram but this time i said the gif was made by you and added your name.. something i never seen done on any spontaneous vine/instagram or snapchat posts.. i mean if had to credit every piece of art in my studio.. i would be crediting a Korean girl that made a pic for me, a illustration by Jean Andre, and a painting by Geof Darrow who did Shoalin cowboy .. Do i have time for every piece of art in my studio to be credited on every medium of social media.. actually i don’t.. maybe i need an intern .. I’m sorry i have trollish tendencies on the internet and i like to fight with people .. if your friends and “supporters” hadn’t attacked me we could have probably shared some correspondence maybe even worked on something together … but when people attack me i tend to shit on each and every one of them because thats just what i do.. I’m sorry thats my nature, (i get shitted on too but i have thick skin) I don’t take twitter seriously, i think its a funny place .. For me.. Its not a place for breaking news or serious conversations legal battles.. I’m sorry I think its funny.. and do i like the attention? maybe.. I’m just a joking person and i don’t even take myself serious so how can i take you guys seriously. Its a .gif that played on my laptop and i recorded on a snapchat. i wasn’t selling it or making a profit over it.. i put it up on my instagram because that’s all i could do to make people aware that it was yours (snapchats delete after 24 hours).. if you would like me to delete it i will.

Was i an asshole? yes.. probably .. Is everyone else being an asshole .. yes but who cares we all live another day and we don’t have to always fight… did anyone get hurt.. i hope not .. i just want to make sure you know that i didn’t mean any negative feelings towards you (none of the “misogynistic” twitters even tagged you) and i have said much worse things on here. so maybe this is also a future apology to everyone on the internet who follows me

Maybe that’s the apology he should’ve delivered immediately. And maybe it’s about time he change his “Giflo” Twitter handle. [H/T Stereogum]