Paparazzi Agency Denies Trying to Extort Odell Beckham Jr For $40,000 Over a Picture of Himself

Back in February, Odell Beckham Jr. filed a lawsuit against a paparazzi agency for an alleged extortion plot over a photo of the superstar baller.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Beckham Jr. sought declaratory relief against Splash News and Picture Agency for “pervasive and coercive practice of photographing celebrities without their knowledge, selling those celebrity photos to gossip websites and publications for profit, and then demanding payment from the celebrity for purported copyright infringement.”

In the incident, according to Beckham’s suit, Jersey-bred photographer used a telephoto lens to snap a photo of Beckham in the days after his season-ending injury. The photo was then sold or licensed to Splash News, who then passed it off to TMZ and Daily Mail.

But, once Beckham posted the photo on his own Instagram page, things took a turn for the worse.

“In short, Splash attempted to extort $40,000 from Beckham for allegedly posting a picture of himself on his own social media account when that picture was licensed to websites that made it available for ‘sharing’ across social media platforms, all almost three months after the alleged infringement occurred,” the complaint read. “These circumstances make clear that Splash was not satisfied with merely invading Beckham’s privacy and exploiting his tragic injury and celebrity status, it also saw fit to attempt to capitalize on his personal financial success and squeeze an exorbitant amount of money out of him directly.”

Now two months later, Splash has come forward to defend themselves in the incident. In fact, the agency believes they’ve done nothing wrong in requesting payment for Beckham’s picture…of himself. As a result, the agency wants Beckham’s lawsuit dismissed.

What are your thoughts? Should celebrities have to pay for photos of themselves?
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