The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ Music Video Accused of Plagiarism

Music video director Mitch Moore took to social media this week to discuss how an unreleased music video he shot for the Canadian duo Majical Cloudz seemed pretty similar to The Weeknd’s video for “Can’t Feel My Face.”

Due to “creative differences” between Moore and the duo, the video was never released. “But the production was large, and many feedback emails were sent out with private uploads of the edit,” Moore stated on Instagram. “It’s come to my attention that some body at the helm of a certain mega popular video must have seen one or more of these unreleased edits. The resemblance is too uncanny.”

So about a year ago, I directed a video for Majical Cloudz. Because of creative differences, it never came out. But the production was large, and many feedback emails were sent out with private uploads of the edit. It’s come to my attention that some body at the helm of a certain mega popular video must have seen one or more of these unreleased edits. The resemblance is too uncanny. My mind is a mansion of creativity, so this petty theft is nbd to me. BUT I’M STILL CALLING THE POLICE!! 😜😜😜😜. —————– Good god now I have to make an addendum cuz of p4K et al!!! I’m NOT calling out any specific body including the video’s director. BTW neither premise is original, and I’m not defending my work here. But the mise en scene of the shots and their function within the scene were too uncannily parallel. Third parties alerted me to this fact. I posted for two reasons. One: The Shania gag was HILARE!!! Two: The moneyed folks in the mainstream waste so much money trying to make half-hearted copies of work originally pioneered by gifted and under-resourced artists – many of whom I know personally. Plagiarism and brain drain happens at even the most shadiest of bcc: levels y’all…The fashion/production/management world is narrow. Again, idk nor idc if this actually happened in this case. But I MUST SAY – In the creative agency world, the gank-giddy decision making of creative directors (or whatever u call them) is silly because these folks know how to find the gurls. They could save so so so much money and get more impactful end products if they came straight to the source instead of hiring a middleman with the word “savvy” on their resume. I just don’t get it. *goes back to storyboarding

A video posted by Mitch Moore (@mitch____moore) on Aug 24, 2015 at 12:23pm PDT

Both videos show a singer performing in a club who catches the eyes of a girl in the audience.

Watch the full video for The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” below: