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Hayley Williams brushes off controversy over Justin Bieber cover art

Written by . Published: April 30 2014

Paramore star Hayley Williams has brushed off suggestions Justin Bieber ripped off a piece of the rockers' fan artwork for the cover of his new single.


Eagle-eyed Paramore devotees raised questions about the inspiration behind Bieber's art for the track We Were Born For This on Monday (28Apr14), when they drew comparisons to the image used on the group's 2007 release, Riot, which featured the title in black and orange sketchy typography.


The Baby hitmaker's single uses the same colour scheme and style of font, and it has since emerged that the exact artwork previously appeared on the Tumblr.com profile of a Paramore fan using the account imnotadisaster.


The striking similarities prompted a number of critics to take aim at Bieber online, with one Paramore follower writing, "Laziest artist award goes to Justin Bieber for literally googling pics for his next single and picking out a paramore one", while another tweeted, "So Justin Bieber's single cover was a Paramore fanart (sic) from 2011. He cropped the watermark. I'm laughing so hard."


The controversy has continued online, but singer Williams insists she won't be drawn into the debate.


She shared her feelings with Twitter followers by posting a photo of rockers New Found Glory rehearsing, alongside the caption, "Crushing on the dude @newfoundglory practice while everyone's freakin (sic) out about JB on twitter".


She also shared a screen grab from an episode of cartoon King of the Hill, in which one character attempts to apologise to another, only for him to respond, "I wasn't even listening".


In the accompanying caption, she writes, "My opinion on the whole JB/artwork thing is basically this."


Bieber has yet to comment on the artwork scandal.

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