Beyoncé is facing a storm of criticism following her performance of “Run The World (Girls)” at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. The singer who has based her career on stealing and copying other people’s work has come under fire for ripping off the work of Italian pop star Lorella Cuccarini.
Bey’s performance involved standing in front of a huge white screen while interacting with giant images projected onto it. But her act was strikingly similar to Cuccarini’s performance last year during which she incorporated the same images and gestures in front of a huge white screen.
Bey’s unspectacular performance caused online social network Twitter.com to explode with tweets raving about her “revolutionary” show. Some Twitter users tweeted they had never seen anything like it before.
But many viewers watching at home were not impressed with Beyoncé’s act — they had seen it all before.
That’s because the same production company that designed the graphics for Cuccarini also designed Beyoncé’s show. Unfortunately, they didn’t bother to come up with any new concepts for Bey.
Media artist and film director Kenzo Digital designed the graphics for the performance and admitted Beyoncé and co. were inspired by Cuccarini, but charges the concept has been around since the ’80s. “[The Cuccarini artists] are awesome and do incredible work as well, but there are a lot of different inspirations for where our piece came from,” Kenzo explained to The Amp. Source
After Beyoncé’s Billboard Awards performance my Inbox was flooded with emails accusing Bey of being a talentless copycat. One reader named Shalon wrote: “You be sooo right about Beyoncé. And I swear people think she is the best thing sense slice bread. I must admit you know your stuff!”
Celebrities in the audience were quick to congratulate Beyoncé on Twitter.
“BEYONCE go awwf! Wow!!! All I can say! BEYONCE a True Entertainer!! U Deserve the Success! Such a Hard Worker!”
And singer Rihanna, who will host the grand opening party for the new Vision nightclub in Atlanta next month, tweeted: “Congrats to Beyonce on a #MAJAH award and tribute.”
It’s sad how the black community continues to be preoccupied with celebrating mediocrity. We have to do better!
