Billie Eilish anime line pulled as designers apologize for “taking” art
Recently, Billie Eilish dropped merch collection featuring bikini-clad anime girls. It didn’t take long for some people noticed the design resembled fan art from an anime series. Now, the collaborative collection with Siberia Hills has been canceled with all production ceasing on the items.
You can read a statement from Siberia Hills below.
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Last week, multiple people online pointed out Eilish’s new merch features the character Nozomi Tojo from Love Live!. However,AnimeNewsNetwork.com reported the fan art belongs to artist Makoto Kurokawa.
Billie Eilish is selling stolen Nozomi art in her merch what the fuck
This is peak 2019, in a bad way pic.twitter.com/XD1VHa2siO
— Nessie (@nestuur) August 8, 2019
Also wanted to add that this “brand” Siberia Hills are bootleg merch creators who steal copywritten materials and sell them at exorbitant prices which is illegal under both US and Japanese copyright laws. Billie please dont support these kinds of practices. pic.twitter.com/HBKcemRS6l
— ??Noire?? (@NoiresDusk) August 8, 2019
Now, it looks like the merch collection has been canceled following the artwork accusations.
Siberia Hills released a statement apologized for the incident, stating Eilish and her team were not aware that the fan’s art had been used.
“To the talented artist Mr. M_Qurokawa, we apologize for taking from your artwork for our merchandise collaboration with Billie Eilish.
Billie and her team were not aware that we used your art, they just believed in the product.
We were the creative force behind this collaboration. To Billie, and her fans, we apologize for causing this issue. These items will not be released. To those who already purchased, you will be refunded.”
View this post on Instagram
Since then, the items have been removed from Eilish’s website and all posts on her social media regarding the collaboration have been deleted.
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