Billie Eilish slams NYLON Germany for using "shirtless" image of her without consent

30 August 2019, 14:34

Katie Louise Smith

By Katie Louise Smith

The edited image of Billie as a 'fembot' was used on the cover without her knowledge or her consent.

Teenage chart-topping legend Billie Eilish has called out NYLON Germany after they released an unauthorised shirtless cover of the 17-year-old musician without her team's knowledge, or her own consent.

The picture, which was uploaded to their Instagram account earlier this week (Aug 28), features an image of Billie which has been digitally edited by an artist to make her look like a fembot, with no hair and no clothes on.

READ MORE: Billie Eilish was objectified for wearing a tank top and fans are defending her

Shortly after the image was posted by the brand on their profile, Billie responded with a lengthy reply in their comment section, and her fans soon began calling out the publication after she called them out. (One look at the comment section on the post will tell you exactly how much Billie's fans aren't happy about the whole thing.)

Pointing out that she had no creative input and didn't even know that the cover was happening, Billie wrote: "what the fuck is this shit. 1. i was never approached by nylon about this piece whatsoever. i did not know it was happening nor did anyone on my team. 2. this is not even a real picture of me. i had absolutely no creative input."

She continued, noting she gave absolutely zero consent for them to remove her shirt either: "3. youre gonna make a picture of me shirtless?? thats not real?? at 17? and make it the cover???? even if the picture was supposed to look like some robot version of me... i did not consent in any way. 4. ANNNDDD YOU’RE GONNA REMOVE ALL MY FUCKIN HAIR?
booooooooooo to you."

She ended the comment with a middle finger emoji. Fans responded to the publication, with one person saying: "THIS IS FUCKING DISGUSTING" and another commenting, "I’m still waiting for y’all to take this down."

In response to Billie and her fans, NYLON Germany edited their original caption on the picture with an explanation but failed to apologise to her.

"To you, @billieeilish & your fans," the comment starts. "For this cover, it was never our intention to create a look that is confusing or insulting to Billie Eilish."

"It was only ever our intention to honor Billies impact and her work by creating this avatar which is part of a cover series highlighting the power of digital prodigy artists. This avatar is a piece of 3D artwork created in dedication to her achievements and the positive effect she has had on millions around the globe - including us.“

READ MORE: Billie EIlish calls out people who use her baggy clothes to slut-shame other girls

The cover feature also includes 17-year-old musical.ly twins Lisa and Lena, who made a point of commenting "We’ve been asked" on a post of their digitally altered fembot photo.

Kinda makes the fact that they didn't ask Billie before publishing the picture of her even worse, doesn't it?