Actress Sunny Leone has been blasted on social media for copying artwork by French illustrator Malika Favre for a charity event.
The anonymous Instagram account Dietsabya called out the similarity on Monday.
“We are all for charity, but stealing an artist’s original work — without credit — and auctioning it off for charity (as your own) is just dirty. Left: original by @malikafavre; right: w* by @sunnyleone,” the picture was captioned.
The actress replied that she had not copied the original artwork but was given a photograph from which she drew her painting.
Leone wrote: “Hello. Just to give you the correct information, I was given a photograph of this piece of art. I then decided to paint it! At no time did I claim to come up with the idea. I simply painted a piece of art that I saw and loved. It should be taken as a compliment as it was being donated to cancer patients for charity.
“Nothing more and nothing less. Sorry you don’t like the version that I choose to create while helping children in need. The painting was not about you or I. It was about trying to help! Best of luck! Keep creating.”
Dietsabya then shared Favre’s response to Leone’s painting on Instagram.
“Sunny Leone a credit would have been the minimum... Intellectual property is a thing you know? What if I didn’t want a copy of my work to be copied by you and auctioned? The cause is commendable, the attitude not so much.”
