Gigi Hadid Sued Over Paparazzi Photo That Sparked Online Rant

Gigi Hadid is facing a lawsuit after uploading a paparazzi photo of herself on Instagram, though she later deleted the post.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Hadid is being sued by a company called Xclusive-Lee Inc., who says it owns the rights to a photo of the 23-year-old taken in October that she posted and later deleted on Instagram.

The suit claims that Hadid should have known better when it came to posting the photo due to the fact that she had previously been sued for a near-identical issue in 2017.

"Prior to October 12, 2018, Hadid had first-hand knowledge that copying and posting photographs, of herself or other subject matters, to her Instagram or other social media accounts that she did not properly license or otherwise receive permission from the copyright holder constituted copyright infringement."

Xclusive-Lee Inc. is demanding an injunction against the model from using their work in the future and for any profits she may have made from using the photo.

Days after originally removing the photo from her page in October, Hadid posted a note in which she alluded to a lawsuit and slammed the paparazzi for the lengths they go to in order to get a photo.

"Yesterday I heard from my management that I am being 'legally pursued' for my last (now deleted) Instagram post. The photo is by a Paparazzi & is of me on the street outside an event last week. I posed/smiled for the photo because I understand that this is part of my job, this was an appropriate situation for 'the press' to attend, and also that this is how paparazzi make a living," she wrote.

"Most circumstances are not this way, i.e. leaving my apartment, or anytime I feel that my privacy is being unreasonably intruded upon, doing everyday things feel harder to face… these people make money off of us everyday, LEGALLY stalking us day in and day out- for nothing special- for us to walk six feet to a car and six feet into a work building," the model continued. "They drive dangerously close and extremely recklessly; they put the general public in danger in pursuit of a photo."

"To the paparazzi, I understand that this is how you make your living, and I respect that this is something I must accept with my job. But there is a line," Hadid concluded. "We are human beings, and sometimes it takes a lot of courage to engage with you because of the resentment I feel for the negative parts of these experiences."

Photo Credit: Getty / Steven Ferdman