Queer Artist Ryan James Caruthers has publically slammed software company Unfold after it asked to use the artist’s work for free as part of its Pride Month social media campaign.
Caruthers took to Instagram to show screenshots of the conversation he had with Unfold after it asked the artist to share 12 of his images for its Pride Month social media campaign.
Unfold is part of SquareSpace, a company worth US$10 billion, according to TechRadarPro. The Unfold Instagram account has almost a million followers.
When Caruthers asked how much he would be paid to share his work, the artist claims he was told it would just be an ‘organic social feature’.
Caruthers replied, saying that in order to truly support queer artists, you need to pay them for their work.
One of the founders of Unfold, whose name has been covered to protect his privacy in the screenshots Caruthers provided, said in reply: “I strongly disagree with the sentiment that any effort that doesn’t include a dollar sign is exploitive.”
Caruthers’ post calling out the company for not paying artists went viral and has received over 53,000 likes so far. And, the backlash for Unfold was swift.
Oh man I sure am glad I found out that UNFOLD IS AN EXPLOITATIVE COMPANY THAT NO ONE SHOULD EVER WORK FOR OR SUPPORT! And Unfold Not paying gay artists during pride month? SOUNDS HOMOPHOBIC TO ME!
— kookoo (@kookoo60491119) June 9, 2021
@squarespace You guys know your guys over at @unfold are exploiting LGBT artist during Pride month for clout. Paying nothing while claiming to support isn’t supporting pic.twitter.com/jlWgKIPlwo
— Network Overlord (@Guy365Network) June 9, 2021
Popular fashion Instagram Diet Prada, which acts as a fashion watchdog, shared Carthuers’ post calling out Unfold, with the software company issuing an apology less than 10 hours later.