Lisa Fan Fakes Email, “Infuriates” Travis Scott’s Team Amid Plagiarism Allegations
On July 4, allegations of plagiarism against Lisa’s music video reached a peak when Gabriel Moses, a renowned American photographer and cameraman, directly criticized the female idol and her team. Gabriel Moses, who has worked with top rap artists like Pharrell, A$AP Rocky, Skepta, and most recently Travis Scott, was the director behind Travis Scott’s MV “FE!N,” the product at the center of Lisa’s plagiarism scandal.
Specifically, the scene featuring 100 dancers in white outfits in Lisa’s “ROCKSTAR” MV was pointed out as blatant copying, from the concept and camera angles to the transitions used in “FE!N.” In Instagram stories, Gabriel Moses did not hesitate to share screenshots of an email accusing Lisa’s team of plagiarism, written in a not-so-friendly tone, even criticizing the appropriation of Black culture in the product.
With the original creator pointing fingers, Lisa faced severe criticism across platforms. Her comeback with “ROCKSTAR” was flooded with negative comments, from harsh critiques of the music quality and cultural appropriation accusations to plagiarism disputes. This was the “last straw” making the Thai idol’s American debut less convincing. In response to the storm of anger towards their idol, Lisa’s fans took protective actions, but it backfired.
On July 5, a Lisa fan account forged an email from RCA Records—the record label managing Lisa’s releases—to address the plagiarism accusations. This person claimed to have received evidence of an email from RCA Records staff refuting the plagiarism issue raised by Gabriel Moses.
Gabriel Moses was attacked by Lisa’s fans, who demanded verification of emails related to the accusations, especially the response from RCA Records. However, in reality, neither Lisa’s team nor the record label had made any statements about the issue. Lisa’s fans had fabricated the story and were strongly countered by Gabriel Moses.
The male photographer revealed a screenshot of an email from Lisa’s fanbase containing violent threats, with no email from RCA Records. Additionally, Gabriel mentioned that Lisa’s team had previously contacted his editor for collaboration, but the editor declined, yet the scenes were still copied.
Lisa’s fans “adding fuel to the fire,” causing the controversy to escalate
Lisa’s fans’ thoughtless actions infuriated Gabriel Moses. Lisa’s fans “added fuel to the fire,” causing the controversy to escalate. Not only did they engage in “cyber violence” against those involved, but the extreme act of forging emails from the record label is also highly condemnable.
Overprotecting the Idol Damages BLACKPINK’s Reputation
Before the uproar with Travis Scott’s team, Lisa’s fans had an embarrassing defense of their idol by providing subjective interpretations of the lyrics in “ROCKSTAR.” Notably, the extreme Lilies intentionally degraded BLACKPINK and attacked Jennie, causing significant damage to the global group’s reputation.
The reason for this stemmed from the debate over the shallow lyrics. Lisa was criticized by experts for her songwriting skills. The repetitive “flexing” of herself with meaningless phrases made “ROCKSTAR” a song with little substantive content.
The Lilies did not accept this and tried to interpret the lyrics of “ROCKSTAR.” A post by a Lilies analyzing Lisa’s implied meanings garnered over half a million views. This person asserted that Lisa was not superficial when writing “ROCKSTAR” and that listeners needed to be perceptive to grasp the message. However, in the post, Lisa’s fans continuously offered one-sided explanations, claiming that Lisa was dissatisfied with YG, tried to prove her fame was higher than the group’s, and even “dissed” Jennie.
The “exclusive” post by Lilies sparked an explosion of negative reactions on social media. From there, BLACKPINK’s sisterhood was once again distorted. Antifans seized the opportunity to fabricate stories of discord within the global girl group, portraying Lisa as “mean to her sisters.” The continuous unverified explanations from fans only fueled the drama, especially when some extreme Lisa fans intentionally degraded and harmed the other members. This not only failed to solve the problem but also caused Lisa to suffer collateral damage.
