Travis Scott Sued in France Over 'La Flame' Centaur Art
Travis Scott Sued in France ... Le Centaur is Mine, Monsieur!!!
UPDATE
8:48 AM PT -- Travis' attorney, Ed McPherson, tells TMZ ... "This is clearly a frivolous and baseless filing. Anyone with access to the internet can tell you that Travis never released an album named “La Flame.” The illustration in question was fan-made, and was uploaded to streaming services by those fans, something that any user has the option of doing."
UPDATE
He continues, "Streaming services quickly removed it after they realized that certain people were trying to pass this off as a legitimate album cover. We look forward to responding to this case and obtaining a quick dismissal.”
Travis Scott's album cover from years ago is landing him in hot water in France ... where one artist is definitely not saying "c'est la vie" over what he claims is outright theft of his art.
A man named Mickaël Mehala -- who also goes by Black Childish -- is suing Travis in his home country, where he alleges the rapper jacked his original artwork for "Travis La Flame" ... an official compilation project which includes a lot of songs from his mixtape "Days Before Rodeo," among others.
The album cover is well known among TS stans ... and has even been featured on Travis' YouTube page and Tidal page at one point or another. That's a problem for Mehala, who claims he actually created this piece himself in 2015 and sent it to Trav via Instagram DM in 2016 -- the same year 'La Flame' dropped -- so he could see it and share it with fans.
Mehala says he never heard back from Travis, but lo and behold ... he saw his centaur art featured front and center when 'La Flame' rolled out, which was big news at the time.
In the French legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Mehala claims he formally registered a copyright for the art in February 2019. He also says he was blowing up Travis and his management team about the issue, and finally heard back from one of his attorneys in the summer of 2019.
He claims the lawyer told him Travis was unaware of using art belonging to anyone in particular. While the lawsuit notes the centaur shot's since been removed from multiple platforms carrying 'La Flame' ... Mehala apparently still wants his day in court.
He also wants d'argent, or as Travis would say ... money, and lots of it. Mehala's suing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sole control of his centaur going forward.
We've reached out to Travis' team, but no word back yet.
Originally Published -- 12:40 AM PT
