French Artist Blasts Sunny Leone For Copying Artwork

Actor Sunny Leone recently received backlash on social media for apparently 'copying' an artwork and using the money for charity. The artwork was originally painted by a French illustrator, Malika Favre. Sunny Leone had allegedly auctioned the artwork and donated the proceeds to charity.

An Instagram account, which goes by the name Dietsabya, called out the actor and pointed out the similarity by sharing snapshots of the original artwork on Monday.

"We are all for charity, but stealing an artist's original work - without credit - and auctioning it off for charity (as your own) is just dirty. Left: original by @malikafavre; right: w* by @sunnyleone," the photo was captioned.

This received attention on social media and came to Sunny Leone's notice as well. The actor soon replied that she did not intentionally copy the artwork but only recreated from a photograph given to her.

She wrote: "Hello. Just to give you the correct information, I was given a photograph of this piece of art. I then decided to paint it! At no time did I claim to come up with the idea. I simply painted a piece of art that I saw and loved. It should be taken as a compliment as it was being donated to cancer patients for charity. Nothing more and nothing less. Sorry you don't like the version that I choose to create while helping children in Need. The painting was not about you or I. It was about trying to help! Best of luck! Keep creating."

The artist soon responded, "Sunny Leone a credit would have been the minimum... Intellectual property is a thing you know? What if I didn't want a copy of my work to be copied by you and auctioned? The cause is commendable, the attitude not so much."

What is your take on the issue? Let us know in the comments.

(Social media posts are unedited)