SZA took to Twitter to express her disappointment after a photographer released pictures of her that she didn’t authorize.
via Complex:
“Releasing pictures of me w out my consent is scary,” she wrote in a series of tweets that have since been deleted. “Y’all be careful working w folk u don’t know well.”
The images in question seem to be a recent collection of photos of SZA in a blue string bikini. As reported by Vibe, the pics were reportedly taken and released by a photographer named Edwig Henson.
“He literally text me m said ‘sorry if u never wanna work w me again but I decided I’m releasing these,’” SZA tweeted in reply to a fan who questioned whether the blue bikini pics were the ones she didn’t consent to. “Never felt more powerless or disrespected in my life.”
In another tweet the Ctrl artist wrote, “If I don’t want pics out cause I don’t wanna fight w My ex, or my album not done and I wanna wait or I decided i DONT wanna be hyper-sexualized in that way rn. Das my choice as a woman. As a human.” She concluded by writing, “lemme pray. Cause karma realer than anything Twitter got.”
TDE label head Punch got involved at one point as well. “Anybody know this dude @Edwiggery?” he wrote on Twitter in a post that has since been deleted. “This man leaked a whole photo shoot of SZA WITHOUT permission. Now he’s not responding.”
It’s not clear if the bikini shots were meant as part of a larger press roll-out, and we may never know. Regardless, the New Jersey singer has been teasing and dropping new music since the summer and announced last week that she will be performing a few upcoming shows.
“Uhhh Iss not a tour but I WILL be singing songs in multiple cities at night time lmao,” she wrote of the concerts on Twitter.
It’s still unclear when SZA will release her highly anticipated Ctrl follow-up, but all of these developments imply answers might be right around the corner.
While photographers do legally own the rights to pictures they take (no matter who is in them), knowingly releasing photos without someone’s consent is a dick move.
