Photographer claims the Tories stole his ‘chicken suit’ image for Corbyn jibe

The Tories have been doubling down on the “chicken” insult made by Boris Johnson to Corbyn in the Commons for refusing to agree to a general election before anti no-deal legislation is passed.

The party then put out a tweet with the chicken suit image, aimed at KFC, saying: “Hey @KFC_UKI, we’ve found an even bigger chicken than you.”

But photographer Timothy Archibald claimed that the tweet’s image had been adapted from a picture that appears on his own portfolio website, which can be seen here.

The picture is identical, except for the face, over which the Conservative party are accused of superimposing Jerermy Corbyn’s head.

Hey folks- I'm the photographer of this chicken suit image. The image is represented by Getty but is most likely stolen from the internet if its being used on the web without a watermark. I have not sold this image to anyone.
— timothy archibald (@timothyarchibal) September 6, 2019
  

Archibald took to social media to say: “Hey folks- I’m the photographer of this chicken suit image. The image is represented by Getty but is most likely stolen from the internet if it’s being used on the web without a watermark.

“I have not sold this image to anyone.”

Even before then, the tweet had already gone viral – for all the wrong reasons, receiving a wealth of sarcastic replies even from the chicken chain itself.

READ: Tories criticised for chicken tweet involving fast food chain KFCKFC referred to a popular talk radio channel in its response: “This is KFC not LBC don’t @ me.”

The Conservative Party did not respond to a request for confirmation and comment, but Archibald later contacted The New European to say that the image had been properly licensed: “It was premature for me to assume the image had been stolen,” he said. “I was informed later in the day that the image was properly licensed by Getty Images.”

– This story was updated after Archibald contacted The New European with his clarification.