David LaChapelle with Daphne Guinness in London. (Jorge Herrera for the National Portrait Gallery)
Rihanna has settled with photographer David LaChapelle after he sued the star, saying raunchy scenes in her “S&M” video were direct copies of his provocative pictures.
LaChapelle alleged that the video copied his poses, lighting, wardrobe and props. He launched a lawsuit against Rihanna and her label, Def Jam, and asked for $1 million in damages.
“I like RiRi,” LaChapelle said when launching the suit earlier this summer. “This is not personal, it’s strictly business. Musicians commonly pay to sample music or use someone’s beats and there should be no difference when sampling an artist’s visuals.”
After Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin said in July that the surrealist shutterbug “successfully alleges” that the songstress and her video director may have copied his images, now we’re exclusively told Rihanna has settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
Jaret Keller, LaChapelle’s publicist, confirmed Rihanna had settled the case but declined to comment further. He said, “David is happy with the settlement.”
LaChapelle is famous for his surreal and sexualized portraits of celebrities including Madonna, Paris Hilton, Angelina Jolie, Pamela Anderson and Lady Gaga.
His suit argued that the video is “directly derived from and substantially similar to’’ eight photographs he created, including a dominatrix walking a chained man on a leash, a woman in latex headgear and Gaga wearing newspaper headlines.
The court agreed the video’s “pink room scene,” which featured the star dominating a man in front of pink-and-white striped walls, was similar to LaChapelle’s “Striped Face” photograph. Rihanna’s rep and record label didn’t get back to us last night.
LaChapelle has been in London with Daphne Guinness and Courtney Love for the induction of his 1996 portrait of Alexander McQueen and Isabella Blow, “Burning Down the House,” into the National Portrait Gallery.