Billie Eilish criticises Nylon magazine over cover depicting her as topless robot

On Friday, Nylon Germany removed the images of the cover 

Chelsea Ritschel
New York
Friday 30 August 2019 19:17 BST
Comments
Billie Eilish slams magazine for putting her on cover without her consent (Getty)
Billie Eilish slams magazine for putting her on cover without her consent (Getty)

Billie Eilish has called out Nylon Germany for putting her on the cover of the magazine as a digitally rendered topless robot, without her consent.

The 17-year-old singer expressed her anger over the cover on the magazine’s Instagram, where the publication revealed Eilish as one of three “cover stars” for its eighth issue on “digital prodigies”.

“What the f*** is this sh*t,” Eilish wrote in the comments, before laying out the reasons for her outrage, including the magazine’s decision to make the robot appear nude.

“I was never approached by Nylon about this piece whatsoever. I did not know it was happening nor did anyone on my team,” the Bad Guy singer commented. “This is not even a real picture of me. I had absolutely no creative input.

“You’re gonna make a picture of me shirtless??? That’s not real?? At 17? And make it the cover???? Even if the picture was supposed to look like some robot version of me… I did not consent in any way.”

The singer concluded her comment with a final criticism of the magazine for making her appear bald.

Eilish’s response, which had been liked more than 34,000 times, prompted her fans to come to her defence.

“She’s 17 why do you think this is appropriate?” one person asked. “And y’all did it without her permission, delete this now.”

Another said: “You are a joke of a magazine if you seriously think it’s okay to manipulate someone’s image and sell it in any way when they had no input or say in the matter.”

Nylon has since removed the image from Instagram (Instagram)

In response to the backlash, the magazine amended its caption to include an update explaining its intention was to “honour Billie’s impact”.

“For this cover, it was never our intention to create a look that is confusing or insulting to Billie Eilish,” Nylon wrote. “It was only ever our intention to honour Billie’s impact and her work by creating this avatar which is part of a cover series highlighting the power of digital prodigy artists.”

The caption, which did not include an apology to the singer, concluded: “This avatar is a piece of 3D artwork created in dedication to her achievements and the positive effect she has had on millions around the globe - including us.”

Despite the explanation, people continued to call for the magazine to be “cancelled”.

Among those who felt the publication’s response was not enough was Perez Hilton, who commented: “Your response is wack!”

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Nylon has since deleted the images from its Instagram.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in