Was 'True Detective' Plagiarized? HBO Responds To Allegations Of Nic Pizzolatto Stealing Thomas Liggoti’s Work

Looks like “True Detective” fans have a new mystery on their hands to solve: The case of the alleged plagiarism. On Monday, Aug. 4, the online magazine The LoveCraft EZine conducted an interview with the founder of a website dedicated to Thomas Liggoti, a contemporary American horror author, to discuss the strange similarities between the short story writer and Nic Pizzolatto, creator of the hit HBO series “True Detective.”

According to the interview, LoveCraft EZine has claimed that Pizzolatto has plagiarized pieces of dialogue from Liggoti’s work and applied it throughout his Emmy-nominated anthology. The founder of Thomas Liggoti Online expressed there’s “ample evidence” that proves Pizzolatto took excerpts from Ligotti’s nonfiction novel, “The Conspiracy Against the Human Race,” and used the “paraphrased or lifted” passages as dialogue for the show’s protagonist, Rust Cohle.

[You can see the alleged plagiarism here.]

HBO responded to the accusations of Pizzolatto’s alleged plagiarism, releasing the following statement to Entertainment Weekly:

"'True Detective' is a work of exceptional originality and the story, plot, characters and dialogue are that of Nic Pizzolatto. Philosophical concepts are free for anyone to use, including writers of fiction, and there have been many such examples in the past. Exploring and engaging with ideas and themes that philosophers and novelists have wrestled with over time is one of the show's many strengths—we stand by the show, its writing and Nic Pizzolatto entirely."

After HBO issued its statement backing Pizzolatto up, the creator decided to speak out regarding the claims.

"Nothing in the television show ‘True Detective’ was plagiarized," Pizzolatto said. "The philosophical thoughts expressed by Rust Cohle do not represent any thought or idea unique to any one author; rather these are the philosophical tenets of a pessimistic, anti-natalist philosophy with an historic tradition including Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzche, E.M. Cioran, and various other philosophers, all of whom express these ideas. As an autodidact pessimist, Cohle speaks toward that philosophy with erudition and in his own words. The ideas within this philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer."

What are your thoughts on the accusation of Pizzolatto’s alleged “True Detective” plagiarism? Let us know in the comments section below.