Yesterday we reported the concerning news that movie company A24 appeared to be issuing copyright strikes at Backrooms art that had been created before the 2026 hit movie had even begun production. It suggested a bizarre overreach that failed to acknowledge the Backrooms mythology as having been an internet-developed creepypasta for many, many years. Now, thanks to the intervention of the film’s director Kane Parsons, A24 has acknowledged it was a mistake and recognized that “Backrooms is one part of an infinitely bigger ecosystem, rife with creatives who have every right to tell their own version of the story.”
This story began with a viral post on Reddit from July 15, when user GnarlyNet reported that A24 had requested he take down some Backrooms-inspired artwork of the distinctive yellow flock wallpaper. A day later, after widespread attention, the director of this year’s astonishingly successful horror movie based on the creepypasta posted to the thread to say, “I’m looking into this. Should not be happening.” It quickly became apparent that the wallpaper was not the only strike being issued, and many on Reddit claimed that fan films made prior to the A24 movie were also being affected.
Today, via screenshots of comments made by Kane Parsons to a private Discord channel (we’ve reached out to Parsons to confirm their authenticity, but moderators on his public Discord have said they’re legit), it’s become apparent that A24 has agreed this shouldn’t have happened.
“A24 has confirmed to me that the wallpaper takedowns were an outsourced system error in pursuit of removing camrips,” Parsons posted to Discord. “Anything further, it appears is somehow not them.” He then added, “They have been very adamant they have never wanted to touch the community. Any legitimate action of the sort suspected would be unacceptable,” before confirming, “I’m heavily pressuring them right now.”
A short while later Parsons posted, “They’re working rapidly to resolve it. Will probably issue a statement.”
And so they did. A24 posted to the official Backrooms Instagram channel to acknowledge the mistake and assure the community that it understands that Backrooms is very much a public property, citing third-party firm Redbubble as being responsible for the erroneous strikes.
“As Kane Parsons has made clear,” the statement begins, “Backrooms is one part of an infinitely bigger ecosystem, rife with creatives who have every right to tell their own version of the story.” They then add, “Yesterday we were made aware of an automated claim submitted to Redbubble on behalf of A24 and Backrooms movie. We immediately began the process to reverse it and reinstate the listing.”
The post then acknowledges that “A24 makes no claim of ownership over the yellow wallpaper, the original post referencing it, or any community works that have since been built around it. We will continue to support the artists who, like Kane, were inspired by it.”
It’ll be interesting to see if other fan creators are still receiving strikes, and we’ll keep an eye out for it.
