Tape Face Calls Out Brazilian TV Performer for Copying His ‘AGT’ Act
SBT/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
Former America’s Got Talent contestant Tape Face has called out a performer on Brazilian television for copying his iconic act from the show. Tape Face, whose real name is Sam Wills, was a finalist on Season 11 of AGT.
Wills won over fans with his unique mime routine, which made the audience and judges laugh from week to week. Now he’s accusing a performer of plagiarism for recreating his act down to the music choice.
Brazilian Performer Copies ‘AGT’s Tape Face
On Friday, Wills posted a screenshot from a Brazilian TV show on his Instagram account. It shows a performer wearing black tape over his mouth, with oven mitts on his hands. Fans of America’s Got Talent will instantly recognize this as a rip-off of Tape Face.
“It’s the people who go on TV shows doing my act that I find annoying,” Wills wrote. He added the hashtags #plagiarism and #tapeface. Commenters were also annoyed on Wills’ behalf, with one joking that it’s like copying someone’s homework but changing it just slightly.
The performance is from Programa do Ratinho, a Brazilian show on SBT. The YouTube clip featuring the rip-off act is dated 2018. In the video, the performer puts on oven mitts with eyes drawn on them. He moves them like puppets, to the sound of “Endless Love.”
This is exactly what Wills did in his first AGT audition as Tape Face. Even the oven mitts were made to look like the ones Wills used, with colorful dots. Apparently the show’s panel had never seen Wills’ audition, because they thought the copycat was hilarious.
SEE ALSO: CHECK OUT TALENT RECAP’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ‘AGT’S TAPE FACE
Winner Shin Lim Also Faced Plagiarism
Wills isn’t the only AGT contestant who has dealt with another performer copying their act. Earlier this year, a magician on Italia’s Got Talent performed a routine suspiciously similar to Season 13 winner Shin Lim. The performer, Stefano Bronzato, actually won the show with the act.
Bronzato used the same music as Lim, and several of his tricks bore a striking similarity to Lim’s performances on AGT. He revealed a card tattooed on his body and pulled a folded-up card out of his mouth with a smoke effect. Fans were quick to call Bronzato out for copying Lim’s routine.
Lim’s wife Casey posted about the controversy on her Instagram story, writing, “We do not condone plagiarism! Shin never gave this person permission to perform his Dream Act. This person never reached out either to ask if it was ok.”
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s frustrating to see people blatantly copy performers who have put so much effort and talent into their acts. Let us know what you think in the comments.
How many times we have seen the same card trick magic ball levitation sawing someone in half disappeared act and appeared as a stage hand or in the audience. I have seen shin lims act before slightly different this has been years before shim lin .