Pretrial date set for David LaChapelle vs. Rihanna lawsuit

Rihanna in the 'pink room scene' © Rihanna/Melina Matsoukas/Def Jam

A New York court has agreed that the 'pink room scene' in Rihanna's S&M video is very similar to David LaChapelle's famed Striped Face photograph. In the scene Rihanna is seen dominating a man in front of pink and white striped walls. Also, the scene where Rihanna is seen placing a sweet on her tongue against a blue background is thought to show a high level of resemblance to DLC's work. Therefore, a New York judge has set a pretrial date - August 10th - for the lawsuit that DLC has filed against Rihanna.

Rihanna  © Rihanna/Melina Matsoukas/Def Jam

David LaChapelle is a renowned fashion and celebrity photographer. He is suing Rihanna, the Def Jam label and her video director Melina Matsoukas for plagiarims of his work in several scenes of the S&M video. DLC has said that he's a fan of Rihanna's, therefore it's "not personal, it's strictly business." He is suing for unspecified damages, and adds that "Musicians commonly pay to sample music or use someone's beats and there should be no difference when sampling an artist's visuals."

The S&M video was banned in 11 countries, where the content was judged too raunchy.