Rapper Responds to Polite Photo Credit Request with Profanity and Vitriol

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This is not a new story: a musician shared a photographer’s image without permission or credit on Instagram. But rapper Danny Brown didn’t stop there. When asked politely to give credit, he responded with anger, profanity, and vitriol.

The Twitter battle was posted on the r/hiphopheads subreddit yesterday, and while several of the more inappropriate responses have since been deleted from Twitter, the basic story is still quite clear.

This is the photo Brown posted without credit. He had actually retweeted the photographer before he posted the photo to IG.
This is the photo Brown posted without credit. He had actually retweeted the photographer before he posted the photo to IG.

Act 1: Rapper Danny Brown shared one of photographer Michelle Grace Hunder‘s images on his Instagram without credit or permission. This, of course, is not unusual. But when Project U content manager Nic Kelly asked him, politely, to add credit to the shot, he was met with a less-than friendly response.

Act 2: Once Kelly posted Brown’s response on Twitter, the altercation escalated. Obviously upset at being called out, Brown posted the following Tweet to his followers. It’s still live, but we’ve taken a screenshot to blur out the profanity:

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Act 3: Seeing this response, Kelly throws polite discourse out the window and responds in kind, explaining in all CAPS how photography at shows works.

While the Twitter kerfuffle was exploding online, the actual photographer in question, Michelle, was asleep. When she did get online, she was greeted by a tidal wave of support and vitriol:

Arguments about how she should have watermarked her photo if she wanted credit, articles that seemed to take Brown’s side, and messages of support from other artists’ she’s photographed all came pouring in:

Unfortunately, as Michelle pointed out in some of her final tweets about the issue, the Twitter battle itself has taken away from the real issue: crediting photographers properly for their work. Instead, the story became about “Twitter beef.”

The original photo, as you probably already guessed, has been deleted from Brown’s Instagram account.

Image credits: Header image by Jon Elbaz

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