TikTok star Danielle Cohn under fire for ‘stealing’ Ashanti’s Foolish

TikTok star Danielle Cohn has come under fire for releasing a cover of Ashanti’s ‘Foolish’ and allegedly attempting to claim it as her own new song.

Cohn has been trying to build a music career alongside her online presence, with over 18 million followers on TikTok alone serving as a pretty strong foundation.

In the early days of September 2020, Danielle released a cover of Ashanti’s ‘Foolish’, which was originally released back in 2002, and was almost immediately met with backlash.

Although there were some comments pertaining to the quality of the song itself, a lot of backlash comes from how Cohn has presented it, frequently calling it her “new song” with little mention of it being a cover. This initially kicked off when Danielle asked followers to “go make a video to my new song” — and the replies quickly went south.

In the following couple of days, Danielle received countless responses and comments criticizing the way she has marketed the song, seemingly as if it was her own original.

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“Danielle Cohn just ruined Ashanti’s entire song,” one Twitter user said, while another simply begged the singer to sue Cohn.

Another user, under the user ‘BAAQ_,’ also tweeted about the issue, saying that “Ashanti is rolling in her Egyptian sheets,” at Cohn not giving her credit for the song — even making her own merchandise for it.

Danielle did eventually respond to the issue after managing to ignore it for a few days, Tweeting on September 6 asking “do people not understand what a cover is?”

For the most part, Ashanti fans seem to have taken issue with Danielle claiming that the song is hers and not disclosing that it is a cover of or crediting Ashanti, but seem to be well aware that it is, indeed, a cover of the song.

Many believe that Cohn has been foolish with how she marketed the new single, but Ashanti herself hasn’t seemed to taken issue with it, and hasn’t yet commented on the controversy.

Someone who has commented though is Danielle’s mother, Jennifer, who defended her daughter and explained the process behind the recording of the cover.

Instagram: jen_arch_

Danielle’s mom jumped to her defense.

“We got a license and went the right way and Ashanti and her team will get their royalties,” she said. “I am sickened at the amount of c**p these people on the internet put her through. She’s out here living her dream and to have adults and kids attack her this bad…”

Clearly the Foolish cover was done respectfully, legally and with Ashanti’s permission — but whether this sways people’s opinions remains to be seen.