Last week, Ariana Grande released the fourth single from her 2014 album, My Everything. The song is called One Last Time and is a catchy forgettable little tune about wanting to get an ex back. The video, directed by 29 year-old Max Landis (The son of director John Landis), features Ariana running through a montage of post-apocalyptic scenes on the earth’s last day. Spoiler: she ends up kissing a guy at the end as the sky lights up with pink fires, which are presumably from meteors which wipe out humanity. It’s a decent concept for a video and it kept me watching. The problem is, there’s already a music video featuring a woman running through scenes of post-apocalyptic chaos until the end, when she kisses a guy before the sky lights up with pink meteors which blow up the earth. That video is 2014?s You Are The One, by the Australian group SAFIA. SAFIA issued a statement on Facebook calling out Ariana’s video.

This might just be coincidence but to us it looks like either the people at Ariana Grande’s label or the film maker have seen our clip for ‘You Are The One’ & reworked the concept a little bit and then straight up stolen and copied some bits…(ESPECIALLY THE END!)

Wouldn’t be the first time uncreative talentless f*cks from big labels and/or big film firms steal ideas from small independent creatives who are trying really hard to make something different for a change…

[From Facebook via Contact Music]

SAFIA also posted a side-by-side of the end of Ariana’s video and their video. It was similar to these two screenshots from the videos.

In response to this, director Max Landis got equally pissy on Twitter. He accused SAFIA of stealing their video too (From Injured Ninja, this video is from 2011) and claimed that it was just a trope he was using. Here are some of his tweets on this and he’s written so much more on Twitter if you’re interested.

No but seriously for people who are saying we stole @SAFIAmusic ‘s video, they should watch @Injured_Ninja’s video
https://t.co/GPxnowixYJ

— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) February 17, 2015

Protip: don’t accuse someone of stealing for having similar tropes if you REALLY ACTUALLY STOLE YOUR VIDEO YOU’RE ACCUSING THEM OF STEALING.

— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) February 17, 2015

coincidences are coincidences
tropes are tropes
But those in glass houses shouldn’t throw meteors.

— Max Landis (@Uptomyknees) February 17, 2015

Landis also tweeted “Everyone in the biz said “stay quiet, let it blow over” f*k that. i respect Ariana way too much to let her get called a thief.” For the record, Landis was getting called a thief not Ariana, and his argument is basically “you stole it too,” and “tropes are open to everyone.” That’s weak. Ariana’s videos is at least derivative of SAFIA’s, especially the ending. At least SAFIA’s video has a different ending than Injured Ninja’s.

I don’t care too much how this turns out, but I do think that Landis’ response was telling. Instead of admitting inspiration or apologizing he’s getting defensive and accusatory.

Here are the two videos:

Ariana Grande: One Last Time

SAFIA: You Are The One

photo credit: WENN.com