Up until yesterday, if you typed "unicorn farts" into a Google search, you found more than 600,000 entries featuring a variety of results. That all changed when The Guardian posted a new piece, "Elon Musk drawn into farting unicorn dispute with potter."
It's a story we see played out a lot—an artist discovers that his or her work has been lifted or copied in some way (or all the way) by a big corporation or a rich fuck, tries to take action, but fails or doesn't get very far because artists are notoriously poor, and corporations and rich fucks normally have well-paid legal teams at their disposals to fight these sort of nuisances.
In this case, the root of the fight—a farting motherfucking unicorn—has prompted viral sharing on social media and numerous additional stories about the fight between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Seattle-based musician Lisa Prank, aka Robin Edwards, who's up in arms on behalf of her father, artist/potter Tom Edwards, the original creator of a mug featuring a farting unicorn that appears to have been copied by Musk and used by Tesla.
The story, regurgitated: Back in February of 2017, Musk tweeted a photo of Edwards's original mug that featured a cartoon drawing of a unicorn farting electricity, hailing it as “maybe my favorite mug ever.” Edwards was flattered, sold some more mugs as a result, and went on with his life, until a month later, when Musk tweeted a sketched copy he made of Edwards's cartoon image to promote Tesla’s special “sketch pad” feature (drivers can draw on a touchscreen—dangerous!). Several stories inaccurately reported that Musk created the cartoon. Worse still, Edwards learned that the image was also appearing in Tesla’s operating system as a small icon—and that the company had even used it in a Christmas message. It is apparently still being used.
From the Guardian story:
“It’s part of their branding now,” Edwards said in an interview. “I love the fact that it’s in the cars, but I just want them to do the right thing and pay me adequately for it. Elon Musk can be a hero for standing up for artists’ rights.”
Musk, however, seems uninterested in compensating or crediting the artist. Instead, he tweeted at Edwards’ daughter this week that it would be “lame” to sue and that the potter should be grateful for the “attention”.
The dispute may seem low-stakes relative to the litany of scandals plaguing the electric car company – workplace safety complaints, major layoffs; high-profile “autopilot” car crashes, an exodus of executives, a suit against a whistleblower, and intense pressure to reach mass production of a new model.
But the use of Edwards’ work without compensation highlights what artists say is the kind of corporate theft and copyright infringement that has become rampant – forcing independent artists to engage in expensive legal battles to get credited and paid.
Now, Lisa Prank and Elon Musk are in a fight.
hey y’all Grimes’ boyfriend ripped off my dad’s art! this is a true story! what do you have to say for yourself @elonmusk ?? https://t.co/TMMJAS1ZGM
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 26, 2018
Your company has been using his creative property for a year without credit or compensation—don’t you think artists deserve to be paid for their work? Maybe you can respond to the letter his lawyer sent you & you guys can work something out
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 27, 2018
It’s a direct copy of his work. And every element that goes into building the Tesla financially benefits you.
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 27, 2018
it’s a copyright issue of stolen intellectual property—I’m not sure exactly what he wants! Maybe whatever wage you normally pay graphic designers to come up with content for you? The person to discuss this with is his lawyer, who sent you a letter you didn’t respond to
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 27, 2018
Musk also said he already offered to financially compensate Edwards for his work, but Prank called BS.
how did you offer to pay him? I just texted my dad to ask about it and he said that wasn’t true
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 28, 2018
just talked to my dad and he said this isn’t true? do you need me to dm you his phone number? https://t.co/J8IlDtoT48
— Lisa Prank (@lisaprank) June 28, 2018
So, where are we now? Elon Musk is being called out on social media, first by Lisa Prank, then by Vanessa Carlton and J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk has officially blocked Lisa Prank (and has also taken down his original post about loving the mug as well as all subsequent posts originally responding to Lisa Prank on Twitter), essentially sticking his fingers in his ears, and nothing has been resolved.
But that's probably because it's only been 24 hours since the Guardian story was posted. Another 24 hours of uproar might very well prompt Elon Musk to do the right thing. We'll keep our fingers crossed, but won't hold our collective breaths.