Rebecca Mock is an illustrator. You can see her work on her website. I love “A Year in Trees”, an animation she did for the NY Times Sunday Review. I bet they paid her. The “Aftershocks” is cool, and a little alarming. She did that for Medium.com. I bet they paid her. I like her “Transportation in NYC” cover. I’m sure Capital NY magazine paid her for that commission.
Please tell me you gave him a hint.
A lot of her work is in .gif form. Someone put “Aftershocks” on the site WiffleGif. It’s tagged #earthquake, #medium, #illustration, and #rebecca mock. If you click on it, you’ll see it comes from Mock’s Tumblr. (I love the second of the silver box .gifs she did for Nordstrom. Which you know they paid for.)
Apparently, DJ/producer/songwriter Diplo came across “Aftershocks” on Wifflegif, and he liked it too. He used it to make a teaser trailer for a remix of Take Ü There (by Jack Ü, a duo of Diplo and Skrillex) for Missy Elliott. He released it on Instagram.
He did not pay Mock. He did not credit Mock.
Mock noticed this, and tweeted, “@diplo Hi, look, you used my .gif to preview your track. You need to either credit me or take the preview down.”
She also tweeted, “@diplo has shared one of my .gifs as background art for his music w/out asking me. my work isn’t your clip art dude. don’t sample my gif.”
A vicious attack! Demanding to be credited for her work! Others backed Mock up. Diplo didn’t react well.
Diplo is like a babe taking first shaky steps. He had NO IDEA that someone made that .gif or that he should ask permission and give credit! Wah!
Mock tweeted, “this morning I informed @diplo I didn’t want him stealing my work to promote his music-his response was to dismiss/harass me & my peers.”
He did eventually add Mock’s credit on Instagram, although without what she considers a proper tag.
Diplo tweeted to artist J.J Steeves, “i credited her what u want me to do ? Eat her out and massage her boobs at the same time as well”
He started tweeting as “Giflo” and taunting .gif creators. “To all the gif artists out there.. Sorry for bumming you out ” and “u guys are all disgusting, sad lazy and obviously need a new job..#jesuisrebecca” “I hope u guys all become millionaires off gif lawsuits”. Also “how about u open wide your mouth and massage my balls with your tonsils…also your blocked”
Soon Mock decided to avoid Twitter: “I’m boycotting my twitter for now to avoid triggers. Friends plz email me if there’s anything I need to know”
Maybe Skrillex had a word.
At last someone – maybe Missy Elliot said something about his unprofessional behavior? – convinced Diplo to back down and he issued what he probably calls an apology on TwitLonger:
@rebeccamock sorry if i hurt your feelings, or trivialize your art… lets go thru the steps to see where we are now.. so maybe I was posting music I’m working on.. i used a gif, and I recorded on a studio computer.. found out later that u made said gif (it was via google image search came up with Wifflegif.com and thats who posted your gif) and then u said it was hard to reach me on twitter.. but i saw it and i wrote u that it was only a snapchat where the gif was playing on my computer while i was working on the remix.. it never came over me that wifflegif.com was a site where artist have there gifs for sale or whatever.. i have no idea..But out of respect for you (you were polite enough in your correspondence) i saved the snapchat to my phone and posted it on instagram but this time i said the gif was made by you and added your name.. something i never seen done on any spontaneous vine/instagram or snapchat posts.. i mean if had to credit every piece of art in my studio.. i would be crediting a Korean girl that made a pic for me, a illustration by Jean Andre, and a painting by Geof Darrow who did Shoalin cowboy .. Do i have time for every piece of art in my studio to be credited on every medium of social media.. actually i don’t.. maybe i need an intern .. I’m sorry i have trollish tendencies on the internet and i like to fight with people .. if your friends and “supporters” hadn’t attacked me we could have probably shared some correspondence maybe even worked on something together … but when people attack me i tend to shit on each and every one of them because thats just what i do.. I’m sorry thats my nature, (i get shitted on too but i have thick skin) I don’t take twitter seriously, i think its a funny place .. For me.. Its not a place for breaking news or serious conversations legal battles.. I’m sorry I think its funny.. and do i like the attention? maybe.. I’m just a joking person and i don’t even take myself serious so how can i take you guys seriously. Its a .gif that played on my laptop and i recorded on a snapchat. i wasn’t selling it or making a profit over it.. i put it up on my instagram because that’s all i could do to make people aware that it was yours (snapchats delete after 24 hours).. if you would like me to delete it i will.Was i an asshole? yes.. probably .. Is everyone else being an asshole .. yes but who cares we all live another day and we don’t have to always fight… did anyone get hurt.. i hope not .. i just want to make sure you know that i didn’t mean any negative feelings towards you (none of the “misogynistic” twitters even tagged you) and i have said much worse things on here. so maybe this is also a future apology to everyone on the internet who follows me
So rotten. A candidate for worst apology of 2015! Rampant minimizing in the very first phrase! “Sorry I hurt your feelings” is not how you apologize for theft of anything. “Sorry I hurt your feelings” is an insult.
Blaming others! ‘It was ALL WIFFLEGIF’s FAULT.’
Do you prefer to be paid for your work, Ms. Ciccone?
Lousy excuses! ‘I am just a simple DJ and producer with “no idea” that someone made that .gif and might want credit! People give me stuff for free! I was innocently Googling! NOBODY ELSE GIVES CREDIT. I STEAL ART ALL THE TIME WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT.’ Diplo’s been working on Madonna’s Rebel Heart album. I bet he’s getting paid.
Extensive reflections on his fascinating self! ‘I am SO BUSY, “maybe i need an intern”.’ You know that’s going to be an unpaid internship.
‘I’m just a troll who likes to fight! A lovable bad boy! Anyway, I love me! I think I’m funny! WATCH OUT EVERYBODY, because THIS IS HOW I AM!’
And a little vengeful self-pity! ‘Don’t you wish you’d been nice, and made everyone else be nice, and maybe I would have let you WORK WITH ME? But NOOO, you all said I had to GIVE CREDIT! YOU SHAT ON ME!’ Because who wouldn’t want to work with him?
I don’t think he’s remorseful. But I do think he might think twice before randomly swiping things he finds on the internet.
“when people attack me i tend to shit on each and every one of them because thats just what i do” – lovely man.