‘SNL’ Under Fire For Allegedly Plagiarizing Louis C.K. Clown Sketch From Tig Notaro

Alex Logan

Comedian Tig Notaro has blasted Saturday Night Live for plagiarizing her idea. The stand-up and star of Amazon’s One Mississippi co-wrote, directed, and starred in a 13-minute short called “Clown Service” that she premiered in 2015, and it bares a striking resemblance to a video sketch called “Birthday Clown” that aired on the most recent episode of SNL, hosted by Louis C.K.

As Notaro said in a statement released to Entertainment Weekly, *quote* “It has been impossible for me to ignore the cacophony of voices reaching out personally and publicly about the potential plagiarizing of my film “Clown Service”… While I don’t know how all this actually happened, I did find it extremely disappointing.” She went on to claim that a writer/director who was aware of her short worked on the SNL video.

Louis C.K. and Notaro have collaborated in the past both on stage and screen– C.K. serves as Executive Producer on One Mississippi, and in 2012, he hosted the pre-release of her Live stand-up album on his website louisck.net. Despite their past partnership, Notaro claims that she and C.K. “have not communicated in any way for nearly a year and a half.” And that she “never gave anyone permission to use anything from my film.”

Watch ‘Daily Show’s’ Hasan Minhaj Will Host White House Correspondents’ Dinner But Won’t Roast Trump…

Read more for Yahoo TV:

Watch the whole “Birthday Clown” from ‘SNL’ on Yahoo View…

Tell us what you think! What do you think? Did SNL knowingly rip off Tig Notaro? Or is this an unfortunate coincidence? Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Khail Anonymous, on Twitter.