Naughty Dog cannot escape plagiarism accusations, even if they are accidental. Last night, Lotte Kestner, a Seattle-based singer-songwriter took to Twitter to call out Naughty Dog for “copying” a cover she made. The latest The Last of Us Part II ad features a track from New Order called “True Faith”. The original song is pop. However, the cover used in the ad is a vocal segment sung by Ellie.
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Lotte took to Twitter to post a now-deleted tweet calling out Neil Duckmann and Naughty Dog for using a replica cover.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ED3906″ class=”” size=”21″]hey are you aware that the true faith cover you put in your last of us 2 trailer is a replica of my cover that came out 10 yrs ago? I wrote original parts not in the original song that are copied exactly by whoever covered it. I am heartbroken.[/perfectpullquote]
You can watch The Last of Us Part II ad down below;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXl9GI1p_Os
Now here is Lotte Kestner 10-year-old cover;
Now listen to the original New Order version;
You can’t deny the similarities of the song. However, it is a cover. Lotte even credits the original New Order artists in her video. Lotte then posted another now-deleted tweet asking for credit or compensation for her “cover” of a song she did not write.
The Last of Us Part II ad was put together by Sony’s marketing team and most likely has very little to do with Naughty Dog. Sony probably paid royalties to New Order in order to use the song in the advert. While the song has been inspired by Lotte’s cover, she does not own the music. If it was her original song, perhaps she could claim royalties. However, that is not the case.
With that being said, the legal side of this is unclear. You can’t make money off of someone’s work by reworking it. Lotte, on the other hand, wants to cash in on the situation. She deleted her tweets but this might not be over yet.
The Last of Us Part II is out on 19 June 2020. Stay tuned for our review going live on 12 June at 09:01 SAT.
