Quibi's Memory Hole accused of plagiarism by found footage collective Everything Is Terrible!
Monday saw the launch of Quibi, a short-form mobile streaming service backed by nearly $2 billion in funding. The launch in itself was news, as the streamer’s previously faced controversy after its “turnstyle” technology became the subject of a sloppy legal battle.
Now, Quibi’s facing more controversy, this around one of its launch series, the Will Arnett-hosted Memory Hole. Created by Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj writer Scott Vrooman, the series is, per our review of the streamer’s first batch of shows, a fairly tepid look at “cringeworthy” moments in pop culture via vintage footage.
On Monday, the 12-year old found footage art collective Everything Is Terrible!, whose brilliant creations we’ve covered in the past, accused Quibi and Vrooman of plagiarizing their aesthetic, as well as the title itself—“Memory Hole” was the name of a 2014 series produced by Everything Is Terrible! that mangled old VHS clips into new, horrifying creations.
In a post to their social accounts, Everything Is Terrible! juxtaposed their own designs next to the one released by Quibi.
“Looks like Quibi decided to make a show that presents crazy found footage clips and called it MEMORY HOLE (of all the things you could have called it… seriously?),” they wrote. “It’s also deeply disappointing to see our logo from 10+ years ago completely ripped off as the look for the entire show. We’re a small found footage art collective that’s been building a world for 12+ years, and to have a billion dollar company lift our aesthetic without compensation really, really sucks.”
In an email to The A.V. Club, the collective’s Commodore Gilgamesh said that, as of Monday evening, they had yet to hear anything from Quibi itself. They also confirmed that they hold copyrights on the Everything Is Terrible! logos and artwork.
They also shared this statement with Gizmodo:
