As we reported recently, Disney has been accused of stealing a design for a sculpture from an artist on TikTok. The original artist, Andrew Martin, found a sculpture that looked exactly the same as his being sold by the entertainment giant for $125. Now, it looks like Disney has been made aware of this accusation, because its own version of the model has been removed from the online storefront.
This update comes from a new TikTok video from Martin, where he shows that the listing for the sculpture no longer exists. Despite this, it seems he still hasn't been contacted by Disney to explain the situation, and perhaps even offer an apology. It also raises questions as to whether there are other pieces of stolen art on the website, as this was only taken down following public backlash.
The art piece in question, a sculpture of a Tiki drummer, was originally created by Martin in 2018. Because selling it for a profit would have almost definitely resulted in legal issues with Disney (the design is based upon a Disney attraction), he instead shared the design with the public so anyone could make their own. However, he then found that Disney had been selling one remarkably similar, even including the same imperfections, on its official store.
While it has been taken down, the fact that Disney has not gotten in touch means that Martin can only guess what happened. "Now it could be that they've just sold out", he says in the update. "Or they could have taken it down for another reason.
"Also taken down are the social media accounts of the Disney product design manager and thief that stole my work", he continues. "Fortunately, I took screenshots of everything before he did that." Martin then shows the Disney manager's social media post, in which he claims to be the creator of the design.
It's not clear why the manager's entire account was taken down, rather than just the offending post. It's also not known if Disney is investigating further possible cases of art theft. It remains to be seen if the company will comment on this publicly.