A photographer has sued American singer and actress Jennifer Hudson and her company for allegedly ripping off his photo and posting it to social media.
Fernando Ramales snapped the “Dreamgirls” star wearing a pink blazer and thigh-high stilettos, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. A news site bought the image and ran a story Dec. 21, 2019.
A few days later, the same photograph was posted on Hudson’s Instagram page with the watermark scrubbed, next to the caption, “Me walking out of 2019 into 2020 like ….just as grateful as I can be ! Thank u Lord for all you’ve done for me ! I hope u all find your joy in the new year !”
According to pagesix, Ramales wants up to $175,000 plus attorneys’ fees for the alleged copyright infringement.
“More and more celebrities are using social media to reach out to their fans to promote their brand by using photographs,” said Ramales’ lawyer, Richard Liebowitz.
“But Ms. Hudson and her company did not get the proper permissions to use the photograph, and they also cropped out the photographer’s watermark identifying him as the copyright holder. You simply can’t do that.”