Video criticising Ellen DeGeneres over George Bush friendship pulled down after copyright claim
The clip parodying Ellen DeGeneres was pulled down by a copyright claim
A clip criticising Ellen DeGeneres over her friendship with George W Bush has been pulled down from Twitter after a copyright claim from her TV network.
The TV host has fired back at criticism this week after attending a Dallas Cowboys match alongside the Republican ex-president, who tried to amend the US constitution to ban same-sex marriage and fought to stop gay soldiers from serving in the armed forces.
In a monologue on The Ellen Show, she made clear: “I’m friends with George Bush… just because I don’t agree with someone on everything doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them.
“When I say, ‘Be kind to one another,’ I don’t mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone.”
Rafael Shimunov remixed footage of the monologue with background footage of atrocities committed during the Iraq war, going viral on Twitter.
However, the clip was swiftly pulled down, with a message saying “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”
Decision to remove Ellen DeGeneres video ignores satire exemptions.
Shimunov, a former refugee, attacked the decision to pull the video.
He said: “Against Twitter’s own fair use policy and against US copyright law, @TheEllenShow successfully convinced Twitter to remove my video.”
He pointed to guidelines which specifically highlight the ability to transform use copyrighted material for satire, parody and criticism, adding: “My satire of Ellen DeGeneres comes near completely down in favour of legally defendable use by law and by Twitter’s own terms of use.
“According to Twitter guidelines, @TheEllenShow can be liable to pay all fees associated with a false copyright claim.
“When they filed the claim, Twitter’s process warned them not to file on satirical content.”
People keep re-uploading Ellen Show parody clip.
The video has been repeatedly re-uploaded and removed since the decision to pull it down.
Shimunov explained: “Users with large and small followings refused to allow Iraqis to be erased this way, and have collectively put their accounts at risk in order to protest censorship.
The video featured an Ellen DeGeneres monologue set against Iraq war atrocities.
“Users with small and large following had reaching hundreds of thousands of views before also being taken down.
“These copies continue to be removed. And Ellen has successfully stifled what would have been the most viewed Twitter video that day.”
The clip is currently still available on Facebook and YouTube.
