Singer Taylor Swift poses backstage with her awards during the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada May 17.L.E. Baskow/Reuters
Filed Under: Culture
The American pop singer Taylor Swift is being sued for allegedly stealing the lyrics for her hit single "Shake It Off," the BBC reports.
Musician Jesse Brahams—who goes by the stage name Jesse Grahams—has filed a $42 million lawsuit against Swift, claiming that the Grammy Award-winner copied lyrics from his 2013 song, "Haters Gone Hate", without permission.
The chorus for Graham's song goes: "Haters gonna hate / Players gonna play / Watch out for them fakers / They'll fake you every day," while the chorus of Swift's "Shake It Off" goes, "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."
Braham told the New York Daily News that since noticing the similarity between the two songs several months ago, he has contacted Swift's record label, Big Machine, four or five times. He originally asked for a co-writing credit and a selfie with Swift, but said that the record label denied his requests.
Swift's best-selling hit bears no musical resemblance to Brahams' song, but the rapper defended his case, telling the Daily News, "Her hook is the same hook as mine...If I didn't write the song 'Haters Gone Hate,' there wouldn't be a song called 'Shake It Off.'" He said there was "no way" Swift had come up with her lyrics independently of his song.
Representatives for Taylor Swift in the U.K. refused to comment on the case.
Last week it was revealed that Swift is countersuing a Denver radio host who allegedly groped her two years ago. David Mueller was fired from his job at KYGO-FM radio station after the incident in 2013, but in September this year, he filed a suit against Swift saying it was a case of mistaken identity and that his termination was therefore unjustified.
Swift has now asked for a jury trial and said that if she receives any money from the case she will donate it to charities "dedicated to protecting women from similar acts of sexual assault and personal di
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