SORRY but we didnt steal this ?? @justinbieber @bloodpop pic.twitter.com/9897j9sfY7
— SKRILLEX (@Skrillex) May 27, 2016
Over the weekend, news broke out that Skrillex and Justin Bieber were being sued for copyright infringement over their hit collaboration “Sorry.” The claimant, Casey Dienel of White Hinterland, alleged that “Sorry” sampled a vocal loop from her 2014 song “Ring The Bell” and that requests to have the sample licensed by Bieber’s team were ignored.
Following the media frenzy covering the lawsuit, Skrillex took to social media to defend himself, posting a brief video demonstrating that any coincidences between “Sorry” and “Ring The Bell” were just that. In the thirty second long video, he opens up the Ableton file for “Sorry” and proves that the sample used within was recorded by a separate vocalist. He then gives a brief tutorial on how the sample was re-pitched to arrive at the sound featured in the song itself.
In one fell swoop, Skrillex shuts down any claim of plagiarism brought forward by Dienel. While the video should be evidence enough to get the case thrown out, there are reports that Diplo told TMZ that Skrillex and Bieber will likely settle the issue outside of court.