Olivia Rodrigo has responded to Courtney Love's accusations of plagiarism.
In June, the Hole frontwoman called Rodrigo out for the artwork that was used to promote her concert film, "Sour Prom," pointing out that it shared similarities to her own band's album cover, "Live Through This." Aside from a brief exchange on Twitter, Rodrigo has kept quiet about the ordeal but finally opened up about it in a new interview with GQ.
"To be honest, I’m just flattered that Courtney Love knows that I exist," she stated.
The artwork that came under fire was a photo of Rodrigo wearing a tiara and holding a bouquet of flowers. In the image, her mascara is smeared down her face. In the photos used for Hole's album cover, Love similarly wears a tiara with smeared mascara. In her hands, she holds a bouquet of white flowers.
Taking to Twitter, Love slammed Rodrigo, claiming she had copied her album artwork.
"Spot the difference! #twinning! @oliviarodrigo," Love captioned photos of both her and Rodrigo's artwork on Facebook.
"Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude. There’s no way to be elegant about it," Love vented in reply to a fan who accused her of cyberbullying. Love added that she was "not angry," but said it was "bad form" for Rodrigo to use similar artwork.
"It was rude And I gave every right to stick up for my work," she vented. "Don’t gatekeep me ! I’m honorable as f--k to my fellow artists , and I expect the same ."
Love also added the post to Instagram, which garnered a response from Rodrigo on the platform.
"Love u and live through this sooooo much," she wrote, according to E! News.
"Olivia - you're welcome," Love responded. "My favorite florist is in Notting Hill, London! Dm me for deets! I look forward to reading your note."
While many of Rodrigo's fans stood up for her, she also faced her share of criticism. Although she did not speak about it directly with GQ, Rodrigo did open up about the criticism she has received as an emerging artist.
"When people who don't know me are criticizing me, they're criticizing my persona, not my person," she said. "But that's really difficult, though, too, because my persona is being as genuine and honest as I possibly can, so it's this weird dichotomy."
Rodrigo has come up with a way to avoid letting the criticism get to her — by avoiding social media.
"It helps to not look at that s--t," Rodrigo said, explaining that a friend of hers set up a child lock on her phone after she forgot her password. She can now only log on for about 30 minutes a day.
"Which is honestly the biggest blessing," she added. "You're literally not meant to know what everyone is saying about you at all times."
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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