Tommy Lee doesn’t think the Astroworld of Travis Scott. In fact, he’s accusing the rapper of stealing his stage design, including a 360-degree loop Lee famously rode for his drum solos.
“Just found out this f—king idiot @travisscott or someone on his team ripped off the 360 AND The Crüecifly!” the Mötley Crüe drummer, 51, wrote on Instagram on Wednesday, November 28. “WTF!! Get an original idea…”
In the post, Lee uploaded a video of the 26-year-old rotating around 360-degree loop during a performance of his Astroworld concert tour and a video of himself on a similar loop during Mötley Crüe’s 30th-anniversary tour in 2011.
Then Lee posted two more videos on Instagram: One of Scott riding a roller coaster-like moving platform during a performance and another of himself playing drums while traveling on an overhead track dubbed the “Crüecifly” during his band’s 2014 farewell tour.
“ANNNNND not one rip off but TWO,” the drummer wrote in that post’s caption. “DOPE. I get copying is a form of flattery, but this is just straight ripping off my s—t. What do you guys think???”
Lee continued his rant in his Instagram Stories on Thursday, November 29. “To many people this probably isn’t a big deal,” he wrote. “But as an artist, I specifically created the 360 and the Crüecifly for my shows. No one had put a roller coaster on stage before me. NO ONE. When you put all that time and effort into something, and someone just jacks it from you, it’s not cool. Had he given me credit or paid homage it would have been a different story.”
In another upload, Lee said, “Just like Kanye [West] stole his set design from Lorde’s show. We are artists. We pride ourselves on what we create. And for someone to just come along and take it for their own isn’t cool. Come up with ur own s—t. That’s what an artist is supposed to do *autotune voice*”
Lorde accused West of ripping off the glass box stage design element from her Melodrama tour for his Kids See Ghosts concert with Kid Cudi earlier this month. “I’m proud of the work I do, and it’s flattering when other artists feel inspired by it, to the extent that they choose to try it on themselves,” the 22-year-old wrote in her Instagram Stories. “But don’t steal—not from women or anyone else—not in 2018 or ever.” West, 41, did not respond to the accusations, but the set designer he and Lorde both used later posted an Instagram photo of a similar glass box she designed for the English National Opera’s 2007 production of Carmen.
And the Methods of Mayhem founder also took the diatribe to Twitter that same day, telling Scott to “lawyer up” in one tweet and calling out a production services company in the next.
“And the plot thickens!” he wrote in the latter post. “After I and our production crew created the 360 and Crüecifly, We hired a company called SGPS in Las Vegas to create it. WELLLLL GUESS WHO’S DOING TRAVIS’S SET DESIGN???? F—king SGPS! So all u mothaf—kas tellin me I’m not right can f—k off.”
Laurie L. Soriano, an attorney for Scott, told TMZ on Thursday that there’s “no legal basis” for Lee’s accusations. “Tommy didn’t invent the concept of a roller coaster,” she said. “The actual creator and owner of the system has granted Travis all rights to use that equipment to complement his original stage design.”
