FKA Twigs‘ “Cellophane” director has spoken out about the allegations that Lil Nas X copied aspects of their music video in his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video.
On Saturday (March 27), director Andrew Thomas Huang addressed the “Old Town Road” singer’s latest music video via Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.
He shared a side-by-side comparison of the stripper pole scenes from the two videos that are eerily similar and wrote about the business aspect of both creations. Huang revealed that he was previously contacted to direct the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video.
“There’s no winning when this happens,” Huang wrote alongside the two clips. “Been copied before but this feels different. Lil Nas X’s label contacted me [at the] end of last year. Pivoted away then hired the same choreographer from ‘Cellophane.'”
“Consider the power you wield and the artists you harm when you capitalize on our blood, sweat, tears, and emotional labor,” he added.
After the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” release on Friday (March 26), fans put the two videos side by side and saw extremely similar scenes and visual aspects from both of the videos. Huang did the same thing and posted the similarities in a TikTok video. “While I’m at it. @lilnasx take me off your mood board or hire me,” he captioned the clip.
Huang addressed the creation of “Cellophane” and how personal the process was for both him and FKA Twigs. Along with his words, he posted behind-the-scenes clips on his TikTok account of how exactly “Cellophane” was created.
“Years of work went into the creation of ‘Cellophane,’ from physical training to the emotional labor of unpacking Twigs’ life to construct images told her story of trauma and recovery. ‘Cellophane; was a confession in the most vulnerable sense,” he wrote.
At the end of the day, Huang knows that “intentional or not, copying other artists’ work happens.” He noted that he believes that major labels pits artists against one another, especially women and QBIPOC creators. “Truth is there is space for all of us,” he concluded.
Read his full Twitter thread, below.