Die Antwoord's Yolandi Visser Slams 'Suicide Squad' for Biting Their Style

Culture

Die Antwoord's Yolandi Visser hurled some strong accusations at Suicide Squad's director David Ayer on Instagram Wednesday. The grime artist slammed the film for allegedly copying the duo's aesthetic and style in a video, comparing the designs for Harley Quinn and the Joker characters to her and the group's frontman Ninja. 

"Yes David Ayer u jockin our style," Visser, whose Instagram name is Prawn_Star, began her post. "[Cara Delevingne and Jared Leto] told us how much u were talkin abt us on set but u never asked our permision to rip us off. An when ninja texted u sayin wassup wif dat u said nothin like a scared lil bitch. U were jus flauntin our names pretendin to b down. u aint down an u never will b."

Harley Quinn and the Joker are essentially the crux of the entire Suicide Squad film, and are arguably the two only real reasons to see the movie, besides Viola Davis. They're presented as diehard rebels throughout the film, dressing in unabashedly alternative looks complete with loads of tattoos, jewelry and vibrant colors. 

Their appearances are derived from comic book creations of both characters, though Die Antwoord's Visser wrote that Ayer called the group before the film was released, "pretendin 2b down, so it looks OK when u bite our black & white graf style & our opening sequence to "Umshiniwam" & an all da lil tiny details u nibbeld dat other people won't see, but we notice."

Some Twitter users quickly pointed our the irony in hidden irony of Visser's statement, citing the group's history of appropriating black South African culture.

Watch Visser's video below and decide for yourself: