Trials & Litigation
Artist Held in Contempt for Lying, Now Admits Basing Iconic Poster of Barack Obama on AP Photo
Shepard Fairey, a Los Angeles artist whose red, white and blue “Hope” poster of Barack Obama became iconic during the 2008 presidential campaign, has admitted that he initially lied to a federal court about the Associated Press photograph on which the poster, he now agrees, was based.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of criminal contempt in a Friday hearing in federal court in Manhattan, admitting that he had lied and concealed evidence about the true source of the image he used in the poster, Reuters reports.
He could get as much as six months in jail when he is sentenced at a later date.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Copyright Dispute over AP Photo in Obama Poster Is Resolved with Deal to Collaborate”
