Duolingo Targets Artist Over Lily Hentai Art, Sparking Internet Backlash
Here’s something I never expected to see: Duolingo taking action against hentai artwork featuring its own characters! And, as you can probably imagine, the situation has sparked quite a heated debate online.
In case you’re unfamiliar with it, Duolingo is a language-learning app (which also has a web version) that lets users study different languages through interactive lessons.
To make the app more fun and appealing, the platform also features several characters. One of them is Lily, a purple-haired girl who has now found herself at the center of this controversy.
Here’s the character we’re talking about:
Duolingo Tells Artist To Take Down Adult Artwork Featuring Its Characters
So, what exactly happened?
A post by artist Movail went viral after he announced that he had deleted his posts and would stop creating adult artwork featuring Duolingo characters.
The reason? He received a request from the company’s legal team!
Movail shared the following announcement:
From what I could gather, Movail had created an ecchi animation featuring Lily, and that apparently triggered the whole controversy.
But the story didn’t end with the artist deleting his posts. In fact, two very different debates started gaining traction online.
Internet Users Are Divided Over Lily Artwork
Basically, two groups emerged, each with very different opinions:
People furious with Duolingo, who started creating even more H-art featuring Lily in response to the company’s actions.
People siding with Duolingo, mainly because the character Lily is 16 years old, which makes her a minor.
Yep, those are the two major sides of the debate right now! On one side, people are defending the freedom to create adult artwork featuring fictional characters and questioning the company’s decision. On the other, people are saying Movail deserved what happened because he created adult content involving a 16-year-old character, even if she’s fictional.
Some of the comments:
“Duolingo once again proving they deserve their downfall.”
“It wasn’t even porn, it was just ecchi. And even if it were actual softcore or even hardcore porn, it falls well within fair use and parody territory.”
“Honestly, that’s just what you get for drawing a 16-year-old girl. It’s fucking disgusting (Lily is 16, check her age on Duolingo itself).”
“So are we just going to pretend we forgot how old she is?”
“Can everyone start drawing that owl getting tortured by a cartel?”
“Did the dumbass PR team really think it was a good idea to draw attention to themselves while the internet was turning Wumpus into a violent gore trend?”
“Duolingo’s legal team just created a thousand Duolingo porn artists.”
“Just a reminder: Lily is a minor.”
“This guy’s legacy will forever be making Duolingo Lily porn canon. That’s genuinely an insane achievement.”
“I’m sorry, Duolingo, but it’s time to end my streak and uninstall the app.”
“So Duolingo just made the worst PR move imaginable. What were they thinking? The first artwork got over HALF A MILLION LIKES.”
“Like, did they not realize how much exposure this was bringing them?”
“Now people are going to repost those GIFs under every Duolingo post. Stupid fucks.”
“I could be wrong, but is this the first time an IP has sent its legal team after someone for drawing porn? LMAO.”
“I think we should all band together and draw Lily now.”
“Duolingo has lost all its aura…”
“I’m uninstalling Duolingo after 744 days because they made an artist take down their work. Not like I was learning anything anyway.”