Our readers are a pretty switched-on bunch, so it’s likely you’re aware just what a nerve-racking experience it can be coming up with a unique and original music video and then making the whole thing a reality by successfully executing it.
Cases of plagiarism, alleged plagiarism, and just plain old parallel thinking abound, which can lead to quite a bit of venom being thrown around. Just last month, an irate director accused the makers behind The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ video of plagiarism.
Now, the folks at Funny Or Die are calling foul on singer-songwriter Father John Misty and his recent video for ‘The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment’. They claim it bears a striking resemblance to their ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ skit starring Dave Franco.
“This is the same fucking video,” they write in their shot-by-shot breakdown. Okay, so they reckon there’s more than just a striking resemblance and they’re not happy about it: “Oh, and Father John Misty? If you’re reading this, go fuck yourself.”
The concepts are almost identical. Both videos feature the protagonist meeting himself in a bar, having a drink together, going home with each other, and sleeping together. The two clips even feature many similar shots.
Now, granted, the concept is not 100 percent original to begin with and as Stereogum note, Young Thug used a similar concept last week for his ‘Best Friend’ video. Many of the shots are also fairly standard cinematic fair and not particularly unique.
Regardless, Funny Or Die are calling shenanigans, much to the chagrin of Father John Misty, who wrote on Twitter, “I guess this is real. I guess this is the time to confess that the song itself is lifted directly from that Funny or Die video. I seriously need to be Internet house-trained. This very tweet confirms it.”
