Not everyone’s perfect: Famous people caught plagiarizing
October 19, 2016
T.S. Eliot was the voice of his generation with many famous works under his name, many of them similar to other famous and not-so-famous works from other poets.
T.S Eliot
A renowned poet and voice of the 20th century, Eliot wrote a piece named “The Wasteland,” telling the horrors of war. This poem put him on the map, only, the poem isn’t entirely his. Eliot stole the majority of the poem “Waste Land,” written by the less known poet, Madison Cawein among many other famous names such as William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser and many others.
Vice President once ran for president in 1988 but his chances were dashed when news of his plagiarism reached headlines.
Vice President Joe Biden
In 1988, Biden a presidential candidate but his problem with taking other’s work for his own hindered his seemingly inevitable win for the democratic nomination. The problem came up in the when Biden took many similar lines from UK Labor Party politician Neil Kinnock’s speech in 1987. The speeches were nearly identical and ultimately cost Biden the race for presidency.
Johnny Cash is credited with being one of the most influential music artists of all time, but even he was guilty of plagiarizing.
Johnny Cash
An idoled country singer and multiple Grammy winner, Cash is famous for many hit songs, one of being “Folsom Prison Blues.” However, Cash hit song wasn’t really his at all. Cash explicitly took lines from Gordon Jenkins similarly named song, “Crescent City Blues,” in which Cash would changes parts of the lyrics or just keep them the same. Cash was sued by Jenkins but settled with $75,000.
