Rihanna Sued By Photographer David Lachapelle

Famed fashion photographer David LaChapelle is suing Rihanna. According to Reuters, LaChapelle claims that the pop star based her controversial video "S&M" on eight of his photos.

In the lawsuit made public Monday, LaChapelle says, "The music video is directly derived from and substantially similar to the LaChapelle works."

Days after the video was released, LaChapelle accused Rihanna via Twitter of using his ideas without his consent. "The next time you make a David LaChapelle music video you should probably hire David LaChapelle," the photographer wrote. Perez Hilton, who appears in the video which attacks media outlets for negative coverage of the "Only Girl (In The World)" singer, posted a copy of the tweet which has since been deleted from LaChapelle's Twitter page.

LaChapelle has directed dozens of music videos, including Britney Spears' "Everytime," Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty," and Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl."

In one of LaChapelle's photos, a woman lays on a gurney and is attended to by a staff of clowns. By comparison, the Melina Matsoukas-directed video features the Barbados native resting on a desk, surrounded by clowns that happen to be reporters.



Another LaChapelle photo features a group of women with poufy red hair, romping around a room decorated with bright pink and white striped wallpaper and matching furniture. In a scene in Rihanna's video, she's also wearing big red hair and playing around with lady friends in room with hot pink and white striped wallpaper, and black and yellow pictures on the wall.

Each image uses a similar forced and distorted camera perspective. According to LaChapelle, the "S&M" video duplicated the "composition, total concept, feel, tone, mood, theme, colors, props, settings, decors, wardrobe, and lighting" of his images.

The damages LaChapelle seeks have not been specified.

Before LaChapelle expressed his frustration with the short, "S&M" had already sparked controversy because of its overtly sexual content. Matsoukas said she was not bothered by criticisms. "The song is called 'S&M,'" she told MTV. "So I think that the imagery follows suit with what the song is. I wouldn't play down the imagery for a song that's so strong. It makes sense to develop it further and really take it there."

A spokesperson for Rihanna has not yet responded to Yahoo! Music's request for a statement.

[Photo credit: David LaChapelle, Island Def Jam]