Backrooms Director Kane Parsons Steps In After A24 Copyright Strikes Hit Fan Art

Kane Parsons, director of the upcoming 2026 Backrooms horror film, has publicly promised to investigate a wave of copyright strikes that A24 appears to have issued against fan-made artwork and at least one indie game inspired by the Backrooms creepypasta.

The trouble surfaced on Reddit on July 14 and 15, when multiple users reported receiving takedown notices on Redbubble attributed to "A24 Films LLC." One creator, GnarlyNet, had a simple yellow wallpaper pattern removed — work they say was inspired by the original viral Backrooms image, not Parsons' film adaptation. A second user had pictures of women in fluorescent-lit hallways and a Backrooms-style office space taken down. Separately, an indie developer said their Backrooms-inspired game was pulled from the Google Play Store for allegedly impersonating "The Backrooms" brand. Parsons responded directly in GnarlyNet's Reddit thread late on July 15: "I'm looking into this. Should not be happening."

The Backrooms originated as a 2019 creepypasta — a single eerie image of yellow-wallpapered, fluorescent-lit office space that spawned an enormous community of fan art, indie games, found-footage videos, and lore. Parsons himself rose to prominence through a viral fan-made Backrooms short film before A24 picked up the project for a full theatrical release. The irony of a studio now striking fan creators in the same tradition that launched the director's career isn't lost on the community. Fans suspect A24 is using automated content-matching tools, which would explain why strikes are hitting work clearly rooted in the original pre-film imagery rather than anything specific to the movie.

The situation has the broader creepypasta community on edge, with fans drawing comparisons to other properties like the SCP Foundation and Sirenhead — both of which have spawned vast ecosystems of indie games, short films, and artwork — and wondering whether Hollywood adaptations of those IPs could trigger similar crackdowns. For now, everyone is waiting to see whether Parsons' intervention actually moves A24 to pull back the strikes.