American singer Bryson Bernard—who created the “Cupid Shuffle”—is accusing a popular K-pop boy band of copying his song.
In a tweet, Bernard—better known as Cupid—said the Seventeen’s song “Left & Right” sounds like his 2007 hit.
“This is the music business! That ‘inspired’ card has EXPIRED. The business hasn’t been done. @pledis_17 I made the blueprint. That cost $ @SeventeenFY,” he tweeted on Friday.
Bernard included a video featuring snippets of the band’s song alongside his own song. He also played the snippets in a since-deleted YouTube video, asking fans to “check (out) this album and tell me what me and my team should do.”
He later announced in a follow-up tweet that he will be “taking action.” “It’s funny how Black artists supposed to just shut up when Companies try to not do squarebiz. This ain’t Cadillac Records no more,” he said in another
By making the allegations public, the Twitter-sphere felt the need to weigh in. “Wait cause i thought we all knew that left and right sounded like the cupid shuffle…” one user tweeted.
Some are accusing Seventeen of cultural appropriation, and others are decrying how often Black artists get stolen from. “I love my seventeen boys but I’m tired of black artists being stolen from and shit on he has ever right to be upset,” one user wrote.
Fans are urging Bernard to refrain from pinning the blame on the group’s members and instead blame the South Korean entertainment company they are being trained by, Pledis Entertainment.
“Left & Right” is featured on Seventeen’s album, Heng:garae—a Korean word for throwing someone in the air in celebration. According to meaww, the album sold over 1 million copies in pre-orders before its June 22 release.
