Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty
In a nearly three-minute-long video released Monday morning, comedienne B. Simone addressed allegations of plagiarism stemming from her new book, Baby Girl: Manifest The Life You Want.
“Y’all know me. I have been vulnerable, real, transparent, honest throughout my whole career,” she opened the video. “This moment isn’t any different.”
The actress went on to say that because the situation surrounding the book is a present legal matter, she is limited by what she is allowed to say but added that she didn’t feel right about continuing without addressing fans.
“It is now a legal matter so I can only say so much, but I wouldn’t be me and I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t say anything at all,” she explained.
According to B, she hired a company to write and design the book, which is how the alleged plagiarism took place without her knowing.
“I had the vision to create a book for young women to change their mindset and manifest because that is how I feel like I became successful in life. That is my truth. That is what I know about so that is what I wanted to teach young women: manifestation. I wanted to tell them my story. I have never written a book. I’ve never been an author. So as an influencer, as a creative, me and my team outsourced. We hired a team that we trusted that we thought could bring my vision to life and they did a lot of things without my knowledge,” she said.
Despite emphasizing that she knew nothing about the alleged plagiarism, she explained that she realizes that she is still responsible for the misstep and wants to make things right.
“I am here to fix it. I reached out to every creative involved. Every female involved to fix this issue,” said B. “Even though I feel like the people I hired and my team dropped the ball, I’m taking full accountability because, at the end of the day, I’m the leader. I’m the CEO. I’m the coach. So it’s my brand. I take full accountability even though I did not know.”
To rectify the situation, the “Wild’N Out” star has halted the sale of her book.
“I take this as a learning experience. The books have been taken down. We’re stopping all sales until this matter is black and white. I don’t want any grey area,” she said. “I wanted to speak on this. I’m in the business of fixing this. I done cried about it. I done vented about it. Now it’s time to fix this.”
As previously reported, the actress was called out over the weekend and accused of copying content from two creatives.
