Quibi's 'Memory Hole' Accused Of Plagiarism By VHS Arts Collective
The new Quibi reality series Memory Hole has been accused of plagiarism by the VHS art collective Everything is Terrible! The art collective, which launched its own VHS clip variety show also titled Memory Hole in 2014, accused Quibi's Memory Hole creator Scott Vrooman of ripping off the concept and logo from their series.
Quibi launched this week to less-than-great fanfare, debuting a host of scripted and non-scripted shows that were mostly greeted with an ambivalent shrug. But one series was greeted with anger from an art collective that accused it of plagiarism.
Quibi's Memory Hole, a found footage clip show hosted by Will Arnett that covers "cringe-worthy moments in history," has been accused of ripping off the look and concept of Everything is Terrible!'s 2014 series Memory Hole.
The Chicago-based art collective was founded in 2007 as a project featuring unusual and campy clips of VHS tapes from the late 20th century and early 21st century. Its Memory Hole show was launched in 2014 to compile the more obscure VHS clips in a psychedelic horror show. While Quibi's new series doesn't have this darker element — instead playing more like an "an updated and very Canadian I Love the '80s," according to /Film's Chris Evangelista, but also consists of remixed VHS footage.
Everything Is Terrible! co-founder Dimitri Simakis told IndieWire that the Quibi show allegedly plagiarized the logo created by the art collective over 10 years ago.
"This is a multi-billion dollar company, and what do we have," Simakis said. "We have so little to fight back with."
Quibi's Memory Hole creator Vrooman declined to speak on the style and concept similarities between the two shows to IndieWire. Quibi also declined a request for comment. But Shout Factory, the company behind the Quibi series, said in a statement on Twitter that "Memory Hole is an original show." The company's Twitter continued, in response to Everything is Terrible!'s tweet, "The name of the show was inspired by George Orwell's "1984," and the graphics are based on generic retro '80s arcade games. Anything that suggests otherwise is not true. We stand by our work."