Tobi Bakre reacts after Film Director accuses him of stealing his Creative Concept
BBNaija’s Tobi Bakre is in the news today and has been accused of intellectual property theft.
He is known by many to be a trendsetter fashion-wise. Talk of acting, dance and music, the handsome guy ‘full ground’.
One profession he is particularly good at is photography. Against this backdrop, a film director and media entrepreneur accused the reality star of stealing his photographic concept.
This accusation levied against Tobi was incited by a photo which he posted on his Instagram and Twitter pages. The very creative pictures showed the reality star dressed like a Yoruba chief.
He was holding a horsetail and standing on a canoe which was balanced on the sea. In the background, a fisherman was throwing his net.
While this photo has earned Tobi the accolades of many, the film director whose name on Twitter is @DirectedbyDiji accused him of stealing that concept. According to Diji, his friends sent a mail to Tobi Bakre briefing him about this particular concept. However, the mail was supposedly ignored by the BBNaija star.
Upon seeing a photo that seemed to have the nuances of his friend’s concept, @DirectedbyDiji drew the conclusion that Tobi had gone ahead to steal his friend’s creative idea and use it with another photographer.
This conclusion caused him to take to Twitter to share photos of the mail his friend had sent to Tobi and raise an accusation.
See his tweet below:
~ A few weeks ago, my friends @ayofilmit @26Views & @shutterbouy shared a photoshoot concept with @tobibakre via email. He ignored the mail & used the concept with another photographer.
This is quite painful, knowing fully well Tobi is also a creative person. pic.twitter.com/k96GuRVGUQ
— T-Classic 🌎 (@Tclassic_cb) February 11, 2019
~ Man with no conscience! I wonder if people just do things without thinking or knowing the consequences of their action/s. How will you ( @tobibakre ) feel if you shared an idea with someone & this happened? I respect your hustle G but this is all wrong. Do better.
— T-Classic 🌎 (@Tclassic_cb) February 11, 2019
~ and no! They never asked him for money for the shoot – it was just an idea they needed to do & sponsor the shoot.
This is so unfair to the twins ( @ayofilmit & @shutterbouy ) and to @26Views ….
— T-Classic 🌎 (@Tclassic_cb) February 11, 2019
The tweet made by the film director created a lot of buzz on Twitter till it got to the hearing of Tobi Bakre himself. Upon seeing the accusation levied against him, the reality star turned model and photographer vehemently defended his integrity.
He did this in a series of tweets which explained in full that he had not seen the mail, and so, he could not have copied the idea.
He also said the concept had been brought to him by another creative, a stylist, who was a friend of his. In conclusion, Tobi asserted that he was a creative mastermind as well, and he would not do to others what he would not want anyone to do to him.
See his tweets below:
Good afternoon. Pls this is an integrity issue hence I have to respond. I am a creative and will never use anyone's idea without credit. I wouldn't want the same done to me. @rogue_ng who is also a friend came to me last week with his new collection.
— Tobi Bakre (@tobibakre) February 11, 2019
The idea was to shoot with a horse at the beach, Which we did but then decided to shoot shirtless with the horse. The boat idea was brought up by @rogue_ng and I suggested we add a fisherman to add more life to it. All these ideas came right on set not from anyone else's ideas
— Tobi Bakre (@tobibakre) February 11, 2019
I don't play with people's intellectual property or mines. Attached are some clips and other images from this shoot and the outfit was just one from the collection. Other to be posted later. pic.twitter.com/zgL0AHeHkg
— Tobi Bakre (@tobibakre) February 11, 2019
The idea to use the horse and the boat came from @rogue_ng the Stylist. I only added the extras of the creative process. I reaffirm that never in this lifetime will I take or use someone intellectual property without due process. I am also a creative and will never condone such.
— Tobi Bakre (@tobibakre) February 11, 2019
I have a team/management that reads and responds to my work emails. Never was the mail brought to my attention. All my works as a photographer have no element of copy in them. My creative genes are still fully functional. It's evident in all that I do. Thank you.
— Tobi Bakre (@tobibakre) February 11, 2019