Yet another celebrity is being sued for posting their own picture on social media: Katy Perry.
Perry posted the picture of herself on Instagram two years ago when she dressed up as Hillary Clinton for Halloween. According to court documents, Backgrid, which is the photo agency that owns the rights to the picture, has been in contact with Perry since July of 2017 in an effort to resolve the matter. They are seeking $150,000.
Backgrid calls itself “one of Hollywood’s largest celebrity-photograph agencies that has earned a reputation of regularly breaking scoops on sought after celebrity news.” It says that it copyrighted the photo through its predecessor AKM-GSI Media, Inc.
The photo included an unnamed individual dressed as Bill Clinton along with the caption: “❤️BILL & HILL 4EVA❤️” The singer’s now-fiancé Orlando Bloom also appears in the photo, dressed as Donald Trump. As of this writing, the photo is still posted on her Instagram account.
Perry has been facing more than her fair share of legal problems this year. In addition to numerous sexual harassment allegations, in August a U.S. federal jury ordered the singer, her record company, and other collaborators to pay $2.78 million to a Christian rapper named Marcus Gray, who is also known as Flame. Gray accused Perry of copying one of his songs in her 2013 hit “Dark Horse.”
Perry herself had to pay more than $550,000 of the amount awarded.
This is just the latest of a recent spate of lawsuits filed against celebrities who have posted pictures of themselves on social media that others have taken.
Most recently, singer Justin Bieber settled a lawsuit against him by a photographer who had previously sued Ariana Grande for the very same reason. Grande, too, settled the case. Though when a photographer tried to sue model Gigi Hadid for this reason, Hadid fought the suit in court and prevailed.
So far, neither Katy Perry nor her representatives have issued a comment in regards to the lawsuit.
The legal complaint from Backgrid can be found here.