Tory Lanez is being called out once again over an alleged unauthorized sample.
The George Michael estate claims that Lanez lifted Michael’s 1984 hit “Careless Whisper” without permission on his song “Enchanted Waterfall,” reports Variety. The song appears on Lanez’s ’80s-inspired album Alone at Prom, which was released in December.
Lanez’s request to sample “Careless Whisper” was reportedly denied in June 2021, but he decided to release “Enchanted Waterfall” anyway. The track was pulled from Spotify earlier this year, but it currently remains on Apple Music and YouTube.
“It was brought to our attention that the song ‘Enchanted Waterfall’ by the artist Tory Lanez incorporated an unauthorized sample of ‘Careless Whisper’ written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley,” the George Michael estate said in a statement.
“Requested permission for this use had been declined in June 2021 so we took immediate action on behalf of the writers, in collaboration with our publishers Warner Chappell Music, to prevent further exploitation as we will not tolerate any unauthorized use of any songs within the catalogues of George Michael and/or Andrew Ridgeley.”
Last year, Madonna accused Tory of ripping off her 1985 hit “Into the Groove” on another one of his Alone at Prom songs, “Pluto’s Last Comet.”
“Read your messages tor illegal usage of my song get into the groove!” the pop icon commented on one of Lanez’s Instagram posts in December, later telling Rolling Stone, “I am tired of being taken advantage of and I mean business.”
Tory has not responded to the unauthorized use accusations.