YouTuber Akilah Hughes was at home and sick when she saw an icon that looked familiar, pop-up in the subscription corner of her YouTube app on XBOX. The icon looked strangely familiar, similar to a video that she’d created, but when she pressed play it wasn’t hers, it was done by BuzzFeed Video.
“I watched the video, which is ¼ as long as mine is. It makes two jokes and visually expresses them in the same way,” Akilah told Blavity.
This wasn’t the first time that she saw strong similarities between her content and that of BuzzFeed Video. Her viral video, “How Do Black People Feel About Spring?” was based on the fact that anonymous users on Tumblr would send her silly questions similar to the title of the video. BuzzFeed came out with a series, similar to Akilah’s video, featuring an Asian comedian.
“I wasn’t a huge YouTuber when I first saw it happening. I didn’t think that I would have the support to back it up, so I just had to be bitter about it,” Akilah recalled. “It’s a corporation that puts out hundreds of videos a month— it’s hard to fight them.”
However, the similar storylines from both introvert videos, and the pain that Akilah felt knowing that she currently can’t make videos due to her illness, sparked her reaction.
“I love making comedy videos. To see my work so obviously ripped off, when I can’t do what I love, hurts,” she said. “People just don’t take on the ‘popular kid’ but I realized that enough is enough.”
She took to Twitter to voice her concerns.
DOWN TO THE GODDAMN THUMBNAIL, THO YOU UNIMAGINATIVE MOTHER FUCKERS.@BuzzFeedVideo pic.twitter.com/xK8ZYCOLhc
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) June 30, 2016
Becky with the lazy videos. @BuzzFeedVideo pic.twitter.com/HEsI7WAFOB
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) June 30, 2016
#StopBuzzThieves became the beginning of the end of her silence.
#StopBuzzThieves from getting $$$ from advertisers for their stolen work. Enough is enough. https://t.co/XuJxGdDwLa pic.twitter.com/yfQcrG78y1
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) June 30, 2016
And, in less than 3 hours, her petition has received almost 600 signatures.
Others are making claims as well.
When @BuzzFeed steals your bachelorette comparisons pic.twitter.com/DjAUJUqRBH
— devon ariana (@devyyyb) June 30, 2016
@AkilahObviously They changed the headline from LITERALLY THE SAME AS MY PARODY ACCOUNT when I called them on it pic.twitter.com/lLaRhevn9t
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 30, 2016
Ella Mielniczenko, an executive producer at BuzzFeed Video posted a statement on her Twitter which said:
