Last Thursday, June 24, Courtney Love pointed out the similarity between Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour Prom concert film artwork and the cover art for Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This. Since then, she has been asking Rodrigo to send her flowers and an apology note for allegedly “stealing an original idea.”
Love’s first interaction with Rodrigo over it was on an Instagram post showing the Sour Prom artwork, simply captioned “Spot the Difference! #twinning @oliviarodrigo.” In a comment on that post, Rodrigo responded saying “love u and live through this sooooo much,” to which Love replied, “Olivia – you’re welcome. My favorite florist is in Notting Hill, London! Dm me for deets! I look forward to reading your note!”
The Instagram post was also copied to Facebook, where Love made few more comments, switching her tone from passive aggressive to accusatory. In a reply to one comment siding with her, Love replied “and? It’s on GEFFEN. I’ve informed her I await her flowers and note. I sure hope it’s long. Does Disney teach kids reading and writing? God knows. Let’s see. Yes this is rude. Rage inducing? Honey if I had a dollar for everyone this happens? I’d be real rich!”
Geffen is the parent label that initially released Live Through This as well as Rodrigo’s Sour and the upcoming Sour Prom concert film, which definitely added fuel to Love’s fire. She replied to another comment that called it the “Disney Princess version of the Live Through This cover” by saying “it was rude of her and [Rodrigo’s label] Geffen not to ask myself or [Live Through This photographer] Ellen Von Unwerth. It’s happened my whole career so I d c. But manners is manners!”
In response to a comment asking her to “Be an elder stateswoman, not a bomb thrower,” Love stated, “I am both. Your version isn’t mine. Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude. There’s no way to be elegant about it. I’m not angry. It happens all the time to me. But this was bad form. That’s not bullying or bomb throwing. This person’s music has nothing to do with my life. Possibly never will. It was rude And I gave every right to stick up for my work. Don’t gatekeep me! I’m honorable as fuck to my fellow artists and I expect the same.”
Love has had some recent history with social media accusations. Earlier this month, she called Trent Reznor “a creep” and accused Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana of benefitting from an agreement that she signed 27 years ago that she alleged should’ve gone in her favor. A few days later, she deleted the allegations and apologized, saying “I need to apologize for my recent post. It was insensitive and it was wrong. No matter how I feel, there are real people behind my words and I need to learn to be more responsible with my words. I am truly sorry for those I’ve hurt. I will do better.”
Rodrigo’s Sour Prom film is due Tuesday, June 29. She’s fresh off the success of her debut album Sour, which came out in May.
Photo credit: Boston Lynn Schulz
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