Jennifer Hudson is being sued for sharing a photo of herself without permission.
The Dreamgirls actress had been photographed wearing a pink blazer and thigh-high stilettos by Fernando Ramales and he later sold the image to a news outlet, who ran it on Dec. 21, 2019.
A few days later, Hudson shared the same picture on Instagram, without the watermark, along with the caption: “Me walking out of 2019 into 2020 like ….just as grateful as I can be ! Thank u Lord for all you’ve done for me ! I hope u all find your joy in the new year ! (sic)”
The photographer has taken legal action against the 38-year-old star — who still has the picture on her account — and her team and is seeking up to $175,000 damages, plus attorneys’ fees for the alleged copyright infringement.
Ramales’ lawyer, Richard Liebowitz, told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: “More and more celebrities are using social media to reach out to their fans to promote their brand by using photographs.
“But Ms. Hudson and her company did not get the proper permissions to use the photograph, and they also cropped out the photographer’s watermark identifying him as the copyright holder. You simply can’t do that.”
According to Page Six, a screenshot released in court documents showing Hudson’s Instagram post dated Dec. 31, 2019, which features a Ramales’ photo, seen below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wbuW_psOF/
The “Spotlight” singer recently revealed she began singing when she was just 2 years old.
She said: “In my family, we were born singers. I was not even 2, on my grandmother’s lap, on my godmother’s lap, and they hit the note for the sopranos to sing, and I hit the note, too, and then they said, ‘This baby is gonna sing!’ We were young. Once I fell in love with music, I think I was about 7 years old, I was like no, this is what I’m going to do.”
