B. Simone Under Fire for Alleged Plagiarism
It seems B. Simone is catching heat from fans and critics once more after she was accused of plagiarizing her newly released self-help book, Baby Girl Manifest The Life You Want.
Simone found herself under heavy criticism after she tweeted in response to fans’ speculation about her silence following the unlawful death of 46-year-old George Floyd, by a white police office and protests that erupted following his death. B. Simone tweeted, “I’m not living to please man. I’m here to please God at the end of the day…I am a Christian! I’m God fearing, I have to answer to him! I’m going to ask myself WWJD not what an angry black woman do. I am angry, but I am also trying to be Godly.” After fans and critics deemed her cancelled, she tweeted in response, “I’ll never be ‘cancelled’. I’m doing my part! Period. I don’t need Twitter’s validation.”
Only weeks later, B. Simone was trending on twitter for her comments about her preference to date an entrepreneur, rather than someone who works a 9-5 job. In an interview with Nick Cannon, she said “he can’t have a 9-5,” because “he is not going to understand my lifestyle,” adding that she believes, “Entrepreneurs should date entrepreneurs.” She also agreed when Cannon asked if she wanted someone with “CEO status” who owns their own business.
Just yesterday, B. Simone was trending number 1 on Twitter, yet again, as several people, accused her of plagiarizing the work of many women in her self-help book. Ell Duclos, @ellduclos on Instagram and founder of brand, Boss Girl Bloggers, posted a photo of her content up against a page in B. Simone’s book on Instagram with the caption, “It’s been brought to my attention that @thebsimone is selling a book with my content in it word for word. She is making a profit off of plagiarized content of smaller content creators and calls herself an entrepreneur.” She continued, “Here’s a shot of my content and then her book…This is not entrepreneurship. It’s disgusting.”
Another brand, Happiness Planner, with a similar planner book, came forward on Twitter accusing B. Simone of plagiarism. The brand tweeted, “We just bought their book and found at least 3 pages so far that are exact copies of our printables….even the font. I mean, they could have at least modified them a bit, but no.” The tweet was accompanied by a photo of what appears to be pages from B. Simone’s book.
B. Simone’s manager, Mz. Skittlez, responded to the accusations on Twitter. She tweeted, “Definitely a mistake you have to imagine she hired a design company. Please check your dm’s. We are in a lawsuit with the firm. We are trying to work this out.”
Celebrities and influencers including Meek Mill and Laura Govan showed their support for B. Simone despite the heavy backlash.
Meek Mill tweeted, “B. Simone cancelled because she finessed a book and made her way from the bottom. Lol What major companies y’all cancel for ripping our culture off? Finding ways to display hate towards our own when they start doing good is showing amongst us a lot!”
In a post on her IG story, Lauran Govan wrote, “So here’s what I’m talking about!!! Y’all can make Kylie an almost billion and buy all her products and she stole your whole body- lips, butt, everything (and I like Kylie), but y’all drag B. Simone for giving y’all some pages copied out of a book. A book just to make a few dollars…Come on world, we gotta support better…#SlaveMentality”
Fans and critics are not cutting B. Simone a break, and many took to social media to express their disappointment and frustration.
“Honestly, if you’re buying a book by B. Simone trying to seek guidance, you’re already in trouble,” one user tweeted.
“B. Simone is the prime example of why you should stay humble,” another user tweeted.
A third user tweeted, “B. Simone’s millionaire status will almost certainly be gone within the year after court costs, lawyer fees and 3 hefty a**settlements. Just like that. And it all started after one tweet, on the same app she explicitly said couldn’t cancel her because ‘it’s just an app.”
Today, B. Simone released an apology video on IG taking accountability for the alleged plagiarism. In the caption, B. Simone wrote, “I have built my career on complete transparency and vulnerability.” She continued, “Even though this was not intentional, I am still so very sorry to the content creators and I understand their frustration 100%. To my supporters I apologize, you trust me to deliver honesty and authenticity and although some things were done without my knowledge, I am the leader and I dropped the ball.”
