Kendall & Kylie Are Facing A Lawsuit Over Their Tupac T-Shirt

Kendall and Kylie Jenner are being sued by a photographer for using his photo without permission, the Associated Press reports. Late last month, the Jenner sisters released a series of band T-shirts featuring musicians like The Doors, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Tupac, and The Notorious B.I.G. entitled "Rock vs. Rap" to their eponymous clothing brand. Superimposed over the images of the iconic musicians were the reality TV stars' faces, Instagram photos, and the letters "KK."

The day after the line of $125 (£95), "vintage" T-shirts was released, Violetta Wallace, mother of The Notorious B.I.G., posted to her Instagram sharing her outrage and disappointment over the graphic tees."I am not sure who told @kyliejenner and @kendalljenner that they had the right to do this," she wrote. "The disrespect of these girls to not even reach out to me or anyone connected to the estate baffles me. I have no idea why they feel they can exploit the deaths of 2pac and my Son Christopher to sell a t-shirt. This is disrespectful, disgusting, and exploitation at its worst!!!"

Sharon Osbourne, the manager and wife of Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, also expressed her disapproval of the T-shirts, tweeting that Kendall and Kylie "haven’t earned the right to put your face with musical icons." Many on Twitter echoed their sentiments.

After the negative reception, the "Rock vs. Rap" line was pulled from their website followed by a public apology from Kylie on Twitter. "These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists," she shared. "We are huge fans of their music and it was not our intention to disrespect these cultural icons in anyway [sic]. The tee shirts have been pulled from retail and all images have been removed. We will use this as an opportunity to learn from these mistakes and again, we are very sorry."

Some, including the estate for The Notorious B.I.G., don't believe that a simple apology is enough. The sisters have been in the news recently for related, problematic behaviour. This is not the first time accusations of copying the work of other designers and cultural insensitivity have been associated with the Kardashian-Jenner family.

Now, the commercial photographer who took the photos of Tupac Shakur is suing Kendall and Kylie Jenner for copyright infringement, claiming that they never sought permission to use the photos. The photographer, Michael Miller, is seeking at least $150,000 (£115,000) apiece for the use of his photos.