SZA & TDE’s Punch Call Out Photographer Who Released Pics Without Consent

In 2021, it should be common knowledge that you shouldn’t do anything without someone’s consent–but common sense ain’t that common. At least, not when clout is involved.

Source: Phillip Faraone / Getty

Earlier this week, photographer Edwig Henson posted a photos he took of SZA, in which she was wearing a blue string bikini and clear high heels. The second they were released, fans of the singer expressed just how much they loved the pictures–but unfortunately, SZA and her camp went on to reveal that they were released without her consent.

The “Drew Barrymore” singer took to Twitter on Tuesday, October 26 writing, “Releasing pictures of me w/out my consent is scary . Y’all be careful working w folk u don’t know well.”

In response, when one fan wanted context and asked if this tweet was in reference to the aforementioned photos, SZA replied in a since-deleted tweet.

“He literally text me [and] said ‘sorry if u never wanna work w me again but I decided I’m releasing these’ never felt more powerless or disrespected,” she wrote.

She went on to tweet, “Lemme pray. Cause karma realer than anything Twitter got.”

Throughout this situation, Punch–the president of SZA’s label, Top Dawg Entertainment–revealed that Henson had been unresponsive to their attempts to get the post removed.

“Anybody know this dude @Edwiggery? This man leaked a whole photo shoot of SZA WITHOUT permission. Now he’s not responding,” he wrote.

He went on to tweet, “And you still got the post up on ig?? You doing this wrong champ. I promise you you’re doing this the wrong way.”

Henson kept the post up for a while after being called out, limiting commenting on the Instagram post as fans began to report it. SZA initially commented, “I begged u not to post these.”

Now, the post is deleted.

Once SZA deleted the tweet where she admitted to feeling “powerless,” the musician gave some insight into why she chose to not release the images now.

“If I don’t want pics out cause I don’t wanna fight w My ex , or my album not done and I wanna wait or I decided i DONT wanna be wanna be hyper-sexualized in that way rn . Das my choice as a woman. As a human,” she explained.

Henson did briefly respond to all of the criticism, though he didn’t say much of anything. All he did say is that he isn’t doing this for clout while asking fans to stop sending him death threats.

“Definitely not doing anything for clout, there’s so much more to this than you guys know, I’m not a bad person,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet. “I’m not arguing with anyone on social media. Never have, never will. And please stop sending death threats.”

Edwig went on to explain the situation more in a series of deleted tweets, seemingly saying he decided to post them because he put so much work into the photoshoot without being paid.

“…in certain situations creatives working with powerful celebrities can be taken advantage of and their efforts are disregarded,” he tweeted. “Sza reached out to me on Sept 22nd to collaborate on a shoot. Of course I was excited and said yes right away.”

He continued, “I agreed on clearing my entire schedule and began planning a costly shoot all while charging $0 in compensation. I believed my efforts will pay off in the work that I produce with Sza.”

While some fans agreed that celebrities finessing free services is wrong, most still insisted that posting the photos without her content is still wrong, regardless.

While the photographer has other shoots on his page with celebrities like Chloë Bailey, it’s safe to say other stars are going to be hesitant to work with Henson after this.